The two companies making COVID-19 vaccines each promised to deliver 100 million doses to the federal government by the end of March. So far, they appear to be running behind.
Drugs for COVID-19 are sorted into three basic categories: They work, they don't work, or there simply isn't enough information to know. A generic steroid is one medicine that proved helpful.
Daily numbers of new cases are finally starting to wane, and hospitalizations are down slightly. But health care systems are still overburdened and another resurgence remains a threat.
Maine says it received vaccines with "the thermometer on the outside of the boxes ... [showing] that at some point the required minimum temperature had been exceeded."
First, can someone who has been vaccinated still spread the disease? Second, will the vaccine remain effective as the virus itself evolves? And third, how long will the vaccine's protection last?
Emergent BioSolutions is under contract with Operation Warp Speed to make COVID-19 vaccines, but the terms could allow employees and their families to get vaccinated ahead of schedule.
As states suddenly expand the categories of people eligible for the first scarce shipments of vaccine, who will be watching to make sure those hit hardest by the pandemic aren't left behind?
The change means that doctors will no longer need a special federal waiver in order to prescribe buprenorphine, a medication to treat opioid use disorder.
It takes time after vaccination for immunity to the virus to build up, and no vaccine is 100% effective. Plus, scientists don't yet know if the vaccine stops viral spread. Here's what's known so far.
Antibody-based drugs that bind to the coronavirus to prevent it from invading cells can help patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. But the medicines can be tough to find in time.
Even if the Biden administration releases all available doses of COVID-19 vaccines, supplies will remain limited. How best to use that limited supply is a question mathematicians can help answer.
