LAURAN NEERGAARD

This August 2022 photo provided by Pfizer shows vials of the company's updated COVID-19 vaccine during production in Kalamazoo, Michigan. (Pfizer via AP)

August 31, 2022, 8:42 pm

US FDA authorizes updated COVID boosters tailored to new subvariants

Following CDC approval, new ‘bivalent’ shots — which are half the original vaccine and half an Omicron-targeted version — expected to roll out across America

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

A syringe is prepared with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic at the Keystone First Wellness Center in Chester, Pennsylvania, December 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

July 30, 2022, 9:17 pm

Sealing deals with vaccine makers, US plans Omicron booster rollout in the fall

FDA says tweaked Pfizer and Moderna shots to be available as early as September, but urges fourth dose of existing vaccine for eligible adults

By MATTHEW PERRONE and LAURAN NEERGAARD

Novavax coronavirus vaccine trial volunteer Franklyn Howe is given an injection at St George's University hospital in London, Oct. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

July 14, 2022, 5:12 pm

US gets new, more conventional COVID vaccine as Novavax is cleared for adults

Maryland company makes traditional protein-based vaccination, unlike the dominant mRNA shots, as many Americans remain reluctant to get inoculated

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

June 25, 2022, 7:24 pm

Pfizer says tweaked COVID vaccine boosts Omicron protection

Pharma firm announces it has ‘two very strong’ candidates against the coronavirus variant, as US regulators set to weigh whether to offer updated boosters

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

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)

June 8, 2022, 11:59 pm

Moderna says updated COVID booster protects against omicron

Vaccine reportedly triggers increased resistance across prior variants, although it’s unclear for how long; study performed on 437 people and not yet scientifically reviewed

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

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

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

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

A person is injected with her second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a Dallas County Health and Human Services vaccination site in Dallas, Texas, on August 26, 2021. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

February 11, 2022, 10:26 pm

US regulators delay approval process for Pfizer’s COVID vaccine for kids under 5

FDA says more data needed on how well 3rd doses work in this age group, creating uncertainty over when the shots will be okayed for young children

By LAURAN NEERGAARD and MATTHEW PERRONE

Health care staff receive a 4th dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, at the Sheba Medical Center, on January 5, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

February 6, 2022, 12:41 am

A different COVID-19 vaccine debate: Do we need new ones?

‘We need collectively to be rethinking what is the goal of vaccination,’ doctor says, as shots prove effective at saving lives but not in preventing spread of new variants

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

A colorized electron microscope image shows a single human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as it buds from a human immune cell, which the virus had infected. (NIAID via AP)

February 4, 2022, 7:48 am

Scientists find new, more virulent strain of HIV, but say no cause for alarm

Mutated variant circulated in the Netherlands for decades without being detected, but researchers say existing medicines are effective and it’s on the decline

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

US surgeons prepare to transplant kidneys from a genetically modified pig into the body of a deceased recipient in September 2021. (University of Alabama at Birmingham via AP)

January 20, 2022, 5:16 pm

After heart transplant, researchers successfully test pig-to-human kidney donation

US study shows no sign of rejection by donated body of brain-dead man, with experts saying string of breakthroughs are promising — but many hurdles remain

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

Illustrative: Lucas Kittikamron-Mora, 13, holds a sign in support of COVID-19 vaccinations as he receives his first Pfizer vaccination at the Cook County Public Health Department, May 13, 2021, in Des Plaines, Illinois. (AP Photo/ Shafkat Anowar, file)

January 3, 2022, 7:50 pm

FDA backs Pfizer boosters for more teens as Omicron surges in US

Agency’s vaccine chief says third dose for kids 12 and over ‘may help provide better protection against both the Delta and Omicron variants’

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

An eight-year-old child receives a second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Northwest Community Church in Chicago, December 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

December 17, 2021, 10:24 pm

Pfizer testing 3rd COVID vaccine dose for kids under 5 after setback

Change comes after initial data from company’s study finds 2-4 year olds didn’t respond as expected to very low-dose shots; no safety issues found

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

A woman is vaccinated against COVID-19 at the Hillbrow Clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dec. 6, 2021 (AP Photo/ Shiraaz Mohamed, File)

December 9, 2021, 10:14 am

Vaccine makers race to update COVID shots for Omicron strain, just in case

Experts doubt current vaccines will become useless in face of new variant, but virus is currently moving faster than science

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

Licensed practical nurse Yokasta Castro, of Warwick, R.I., draws a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe at a mass vaccination clinic on May 19, 2021, at Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP/Steven Senne)

November 20, 2021, 2:25 am

With green-light from CDC, US expands COVID booster shots to all adults

US follows Israel’s lead and places emphasis on those aged 50 and above, urging older populations to get extra shot; expansion makes tens of millions more Americans eligible

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, MATTHEW PERRONE and Mike Stobbe