coronavirus vaccine

RN Rosemary Lantigua inoculates Ryann Onofrio Franceschini, 11, with the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children five to 12 years at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore, November 3, 2021, in the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

May 17, 2022, 6:45 pm

FDA clears COVID booster shot for healthy elementary school-age kids

CDC estimates 3 out of every 4 US children of all ages have been infected with coronavirus since the pandemic’s start

Illustrative: A small green sea turtle makes his way through the sand towards the sea after hatching from a nest, at Palmachim Beach on August 17, 2020. (Mila Aviv/Flash90)

May 11, 2022, 2:09 pm

Daily Briefing May 11: Israel’s biodiversity is in decline. So are COVID cases

Environment reporter Sue Surkes brings a startling comptroller report; health reporter Nathan Jeffay explains global urgency of vaccine booster and talks of ‘prejudice psychology’

By TOI staff

Illustrative image: a woman receives a coronavirus vaccine in Kimana, southern Kenya on Aug. 28, 2021. While vaccines have been rolled out in Africa, boosters are lacking there, as in many other parts of the world. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)

May 10, 2022, 10:02 am

Israeli study shows importance of COVID boosters, lacking in much of the world

Many Western countries long ago gave 3rd shots, but many poor countries haven’t; new peer-reviewed research spells out their value in upping antibodies’ quality and quantity

By Nathan Jeffay

A vial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is displayed on a counter at a pharmacy in Portland, Oregon, December 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

April 19, 2022, 2:41 pm

Moderna seeking to update COVID vaccine against Omicron by the fall

VP at US pharma firm says data showing shot it developed to help counter Beta variant ‘really give us hope’ that boosters can be adjusted for other coronavirus strains

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

White House COVID-19 Coronavirus Response Coordinator Ashish Jha poses for portraits in his office at the White House, on April 8, 2022. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images via JTA)

April 19, 2022, 3:22 am

White House COVID czar: Israeli data shows efficacy of second booster for over-60s

‘What we saw was a substantial reduction not in just in infections, but in deaths,’ Dr. Ashish Jha says about Israeli research

By Ron Kampeas

In this February 2, 2021, file photo, students wear masks as they work in a fourth-grade classroom, at Elk Ridge Elementary School in Buckley, Washington. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

April 14, 2022, 4:00 pm

Pfizer seeking to expand COVID booster shots for healthy elementary school-age kids

Company says new data shows healthy 5 to 11-year-olds could benefit from another kid-sized shot; US has yet to allow vaccinations for children under 5

By lauren neergard

A health worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

April 13, 2022, 2:55 pm

Israeli researchers propose vaccine trial overhaul: Smart sensors instead of surveys

Today’s trials rely heavily on participants saying how they feel, but Tel Aviv researchers publish a study showing process can be automated

By Nathan Jeffay

Eytan Stibbe pictured by SpaceX before the April 8 launch of the Dragon spacecraft at Cape Canaveral, Florida. (SpaceX)

April 13, 2022, 2:22 pm

Daily Briefing April 13: Israel’s man beyond the moon & space-age medicine

Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur speaks about an EU unified against Russia; health and science reporter Nathan Jeffay brings COVID updates and promising research

By TOI staff

An elderly woman receives a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a temporary Maccabi health care center in Rehovot, January 10, 2022. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

April 6, 2022, 4:05 am

4th vaccine dose boosts defense against severe COVID in over-60s — Israeli study

Additional vaccination shot cuts rate of serious illness by a factor of three, gives limited defense against infection, new research says

By TOI staff

People on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem on January 2, 2022 (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

April 4, 2022, 5:40 pm

Top health official says Israel heading toward ‘normalization’ with COVID-19

Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis maintains that restrictions need to remain for now due to still-high daily infection count; credits vaccine with decline in serious illnesses and death

By TOI staff

A health worker prepares to give a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a Clalit Health Services center in Katzrin, Golan Heights, January 9, 2022. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

March 24, 2022, 5:36 pm

Government launches bid to boost vaccination rates amid resurgent COVID

State to offer financial incentives to HMOs, which will contact those age 60-plus who have yet to receive three doses, deploy mobile clinics and offer at-home inoculations to some

By TOI staff

A healthcare worker administers an AstraZeneca booster shot for COVID-19 at a vaccination center in Guatemala City, March 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

March 8, 2022, 4:10 pm

In reversal, WHO calls for ‘urgent and broad access’ to COVID booster shots

After insisting extra vaccine doses weren’t necessary and fueled inequity, UN health agency says expert panel found boosters highly effective against severe disease and death

By AP

Illustrative image: a pregnant woman during the pandemic (iStock via Getty Images)

March 4, 2022, 10:02 am

As false fears persist, new Israeli study finds COVID shots don’t harm IVF outcomes

Rejecting ‘unfounded claims in popular media,’ peer-reviewed 428-woman research shows 25% of IVF transfers result in pregnancy, regardless of vaccination status, COVID infection

By Nathan Jeffay

A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a mobile vaccine clinic bus at the Grand Bazaar of Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

February 22, 2022, 1:30 am

Iran spurns over 800,000 donated COVID shots because they are made in US

State media reports Tehran sent AstraZeneca doses back to Poland due to 2020 decree by supreme leader to not allow any American- or British-made vaccines into the country

By AP

A healthcare worker holds doses of the coronavirus vaccine in Jerusalem on November 23, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

February 18, 2022, 7:11 pm

COVID reinfections far higher for recovered patients who shun vaccine: Israeli study

Natural immunity alone much weaker than recovery-plus-shot, mass peer-reviewed research finds; before Omicron, those with ‘hybrid’ protection were 82% less likely to be reinfected

By Nathan Jeffay