It’s an American crisis that was long ignored at the government’s highest levels: Black women in the U.S. are roughly three times more likely to die giving birth than white women. Now, breaking new ground for a vice president, Kamala Harris is calling for sweeping action to curb racial inequities in pregnancy and childbirth. “With every day…

CVS Pharmacy has begun stocking its virtual and in-store shelves nationwide with rapid tests for COVID-19—which can be purchased without a prescription and used by anyone regardless of whether or not they are showing symptoms—including three FDA-authorized diagnostics and sample collection kits produced by LabCorp, Ellume and Abbott. Ellume was one of the first companies…

Hey Siri, can the Apple Watch predict someone’s risk of contracting COVID-19? Apple has launched a study to determine just that. The Apple Respiratory Study will rely on the wearable’s optical heart sensor and self-reported weekly surveys to uncover patterns among participants who end up catching COVID, the flu and other viral infections. The study—led…

Review by Oxford shows risk of rare, serious blood clotting is eight to 10 times greater in people who caught the coronavirus than among people who received any of the first three Western-developed vaccines A study by the University of Oxford found the risk of rare but sometimes-deadly blood clotting is roughly eight to 10…

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said people will “likely” need a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated. His comments were made public Thursday but were taped April 1. Bourla said it’s possible people will need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus annually. “A likely scenario is that there will be likely a…

Fatigue, distracted attention, and the sense that a crisis will soon be over contribute to bad judgment, last-minute accidents, and preventable deaths. This “last mile, first smile” phenomenon happens in the military, in law enforcement, and in the final stages of disasters and crisis situations. It can happen to anyone while driving the last mile…

Anniversaries represent an opportunity for revisiting the past to make a leap forward. I’m using a 15-year anniversary of an act of scientific rebellion that changed my life — and affected the lives of many others — to look beyond Covid-19. In March 2006, Europe and other parts of the world were threatened by H5N1, the so-called…

Ginger Eatman thought she was safe after getting her second COVID-19 vaccination in February. But she kept wearing her mask, using hand sanitizer and wiping down the carts at the grocery store anyway. A few weeks later, she noticed a scratchy throat. “By Wednesday morning, St. Patrick’s Day, I was sick. I had congestion —…

WASHINGTON — Pharmaceutical companies have a frank new message for Washington: Don’t take us for granted. The industry’s lobbying group, PhRMA, launched a new, seven-figure ad campaign Tuesday with that sentiment prominently laid out across the top, just above a clear reminder of the industry’s role in developing medicines and vaccines for Covid-19. The group…