covid-19

People that are eligible for a booster shot have received their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at least six months ago and fall within one or more of the three high risk groups: 1. 65 years old or older  2. have a medical condition that puts them at a high risk of severe illness with Covid such…

As the delta variant continues to rampage the country, unvaccinated individuals are being hit the hardest. Among this group are children under the age of 12 who have not yet become eligible for vaccination due to a lack of data surrounding safety and tolerance (Read the Epicenter's update on…

Los Angeles has recently extended its first deadline from Sept. 7 to Sept. 13, and still thousands of city workers have not provided vaccination proof or filed exemption requests on religious or medical grounds. Out of 57,476 city workers the data shows 5,183 have requested religious exemptions,…

Even though tens of millions of Americans continue to decline even the first COVID-19 vaccine every single day, a small but growing number have already sought out additional shots despite the Food and Drug Administration lack of approval. It still remains unclear who exactly needs one and what does…

Moderna announced this week that they are working on a two-in-one vaccine that would combine their covid vaccine with a flu shot currently under development. The new shot, called mRNA-1073, would hopefully increase convenience for individuals who plan on receiving a booster shot. The company hopes…

Over the past few months, Pfizer has been conducting vaccine trials in hopes of acquiring emergency use authorization of their vaccine for children from ages 5 to 11. Pfizer hopes to file their paperwork this month using data from the vaccine trials they have been conducting on younger children.…

On September 1st, Ray DeMonia from Alabama died 200 miles away from home. He was unable to find a bed in an ICU following a cardiac emergency last month. As a result, hospital staff in DeMonia's hometown contacted 43 other hospitals from 3 different states, but all were full due to an overwhelming…

Currently, adolescents as young as 12 years old can be vaccinated against COVID-19, but vaccines are still unavailable for children who are younger. One of the major reasons that a vaccine for younger children is taking this long is the lack of data. Hundreds of millions of adults have been…

Researchers at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité suggest that the mucous membranes in their airways are much more active than adults; the membranes also react faster to viruses that it has never encountered before. These researchers claim that those are the reasons why children are better…

As COVID-19 rates surge yet again, the kind of care and preventative measures insurance companies should cover completely falls into question. The major point regards coverage of care for those who are vaccinated versus unvaccinated, with insurers suggesting they will charge more to people who…

Although the presence of prevention methods for COVID-19 have reduced prevalence of some contagious illnesses, others such as H.I.V, TB and Malaria have been put on the backburner in terms of testing and treatment. In countries that already struggle to treat and diagnose COVID-19 cases, the above…

President Biden plans to establish a “Mission Control” office that would coordinate government agencies to forecast and spot pandemics in the future. The pandemic preparedness plan includes five goals:  1. expand the nation’s arsenal of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics 2. improve…

The Mu variant of the Coronavirus was marked as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization this past week. The designation indicates that the variant is potentially more transmissible than the original strand of the coronavirus, and some initial concerns were voiced surrounding the…

The COVID-19 vaccines have proven that they are still extremely effective at preventing severe infection but the highly infectious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 continues to ravage much of the globe, highlighting the limits of our vaccines. As a result, policymakers and scientists are arguing over…