Omicron has many more mutations than previous variants of concern, a fact that raises questions about how effective existing vaccines will be against the new form of the coronavirus.
A new report from the World Health Organization contains some encouraging numbers but also cause for concern, with both cases and deaths on the upswing last year. The pandemic is just one reason.
A state Senate study committee asked the General Assembly Monday to consider stiffening penalties for violent attacks on Georgia health-care workers. But new legislation addressing the issue is unlikely because criminal justice experts believe existing law already covers violence in the health-care workplace.
The emergence of this new variant of concern has brought a new vocabulary into daily news reports. We asked experts to help define the terms you're being bombarded with.
Pfizer researchers looking for a drug to treat SARS found clues that gave the company a head start in its quest for a pill to treat COVID-19, including the omicron variant.
Officials in Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota and New York reported their first cases of the variant on Thursday, one day after the first U.S. case was identified in California.
Scientists may not know for a couple weeks yet how risky the new coronavirus variant will be to public health. But getting out front now about what is known helps dispel misinformation, they say.
More should be known about the transmissibility and severity of the new variant in "days, not necessarily weeks," a senior World Health Organization scientist says.
Protein subunit vaccines work by injecting people with a tiny portion of a virus. In the case of the COVID-19 vaccine, that tiny portion is the spike protein that the coronavirus uses to enter cells.
The coronavirus outbreak exposed flaws in the global health system but also showed a willingness among countries to work together, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO's director-general, says.
Pfizer's CEO says the vaccine maker has asked federal regulators to authorize boosters for 16- and 17-year-olds. Currently, only people 18 and over are eligible for a booster in the U.S.
The newly identified strain of the coronavirus, which could be more transmissible than the previously dominant delta variant, has global health officials worried about a possible new surge in cases.
Public health experts warn that the rush to impose travel bans on southern African countries after the omicron variant was identified can work against scientific transparency.
President Biden received a briefing from his medical task force, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, who said that "inevitably" the omicron variant will turn up in the U.S.
