The next Covid-19 vaccine hurdle: Convincing millions of Americans they want the shot
In the coming months, America could reach a point when it has more Covid-19 vaccines than people want. Between efforts from the federal government and drug companies to step up manufacturing and distribution, the US’s vaccine supply is truly increasing: At least 150 million doses are expected through March — a rate of more than…
How to make this winter not totally suck, according to psychologists
This winter is brutal. The cold weather has made it hard to socialize outdoors, coronavirus variants are spreading, and the US is about to surpass half a million Covid-19 deaths. Many of us are feeling anxious about how we’re going to make it through the lonely, bleak weeks ahead. I see a lot of people…
What it’s like to die from Covid-19
We’ve reached half a million deaths from the coronavirus in the US. But most of these deaths — and the grueling medical ordeals leading up to them — have remained largely hidden from view. The majority of terminally ill Covid-19 patients typically spend their last days or weeks isolated in ICUs to keep the virus…
The Texan dream of going it alone was never real
The power was still out in my Dallas housing complex early last Tuesday, so I grabbed the survival hatchet from my emergency bag to chop up a couple of fallen trees, which were covered with six inches of down-soft snow dropped by Winter Storm Uri. The trees broke easily, and after 30 minutes of hacking,…
FDA advisers unanimously recommend Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine
A panel of expert advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted unanimously on Friday afternoon to recommend the one-dose Covid-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson for an emergency use authorization. The next step is for the FDA to accept the recommendation, which could happen as soon as this weekend, clearing the way…
The Senate just took a step toward actually lowering US greenhouse gas emissions
Click:high voltage insulator coating The Senate on Wednesday took an important step forward on limiting emissions — and meeting its commitments to curb global warming — by voting to limit the unbridled release of methane molecules, often a byproduct of natural gas production, into the atmosphere. The 52-42 vote reinstates the Oil and Natural Gas…
Will Covid-19 vaccines protect you against variants? 9 questions about variants, answered.
The Covid-19 pandemic now appears to be the worst it has ever been, with daily new cases worldwide topping 800,000 several times over the past week. More new cases have been reported in the past two weeks than in the first six months of the crisis. More than one in three of these new cases…
Biden agreed to waive vaccine patents. But will that help get doses out faster?
The Biden administration has announced that it will work with the World Trade Organization (WTO) to negotiate a deal to suspend intellectual property rights associated with the Covid-19 vaccines — a surprise move for the administration, which had initially resisted taking such a step. The reversal came as Covid-19 deaths are mounting in India and…
How the world missed more than half of all Covid-19 deaths
The world may have undercounted Covid-19 deaths by a staggering margin, according to an analysis released Thursday by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine. The actual count may actually be 6.9 million deaths, more than double official tolls. The United States alone is estimated to…
The falling Chinese space rocket is a policy failure
Click:vanilla gifts There’s a scene in The West Wing’s second season in which one of the protagonists is told a Chinese satellite is falling to Earth, but no one knew exactly when or where. “A satellite is crashing to Earth, and NASA sent us a fax?” Donna Moss says, clearly concerned. But few in the…