Donald Trump's health team picks includes outspoken critics of the medical establishment and COVID-19 health measures.

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health.

President Joe Biden is replacing a top science adviser who resigned under a cloud with two individuals who will split his positions on an interim basis.

The first full year of the biggest vaccination drive in American history has saved many lives but has left many behind.

To protect yourself against the omicron variant, experts say to do what you would against any other variant.

The World Health Organization has urged countries not to impose flight bans on southern African nations due to concerns over the new omicron variant.

Cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus popped up in countries on opposite sides of the world Sunday and many governments rushed to close their borders.

Active coronavirus cases in West Virginia have fallen dramatically in recent days, bringing a hope that the latest surge is at or past its peak, though officials warn that deaths and hospitalizations will continue to swell before dropping.

The National Institutes of Health director says a U_S_ government advisory panel’s decision to limit Pfizer COVID-19 booster shots to Americans 65 and older as well as those at high risk of severe disease is a preliminary step and predicts broader approval for most Americans “in the next few weeks.”.

Alaska’s state epidemiologist says Alaska is experiencing “one of the sharpest surges” in COVID-19 in the country.

Just as school doors are reopening across the U.S., children are filling hospital beds instead of classrooms in record numbers, sick with COVID-19.

After struggling for months to persuade Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine, U.S. health officials could soon face a fresh challenge: talking vaccinated people into getting booster shots.

New Zealand has detected its first community transmission of the coronavirus in months, triggering urgent meetings among top lawmakers.

Warning of tough days ahead with surging COVID-19 infections, the director of the National Institutes of Health says the U.S. could decide in the next couple weeks whether to offer coronavirus booster shots to more Americans this fall.

The U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says he's hopeful that the Food and Drug Administration will give full approval to the coronavirus vaccine by month’s end.

The nation’s top infectious disease expert is warning that more “pain and suffering” is ahead as COVID-19 cases climb again and officials plead with unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated.

Federal prosecutors in Maryland say a man has been arrested and charged with sending emails that threatened to harm and kill Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, and their families.

While reports of athletes, lawmakers and others occasionally getting the coronavirus despite vaccination may sound alarming, top health experts point to overwhelming evidence that the shots dramatically reduce severe disease and death.

Once dismissed by most public health experts and government officials, the hypothesis that COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese lab is now receiving scrutiny under a new U.S. investigation.

Renowned conservationist Jane Goodall has been named as this year’s winner of the prestigious Templeton Prize, honoring individuals whose life’s work embodies a fusion of science and spirituality.

A top White House aide is making his pitch for young people to get vaccinated personal by sharing the struggles his own son has dealt with since contracting COVID-19 last fall.

One year ago, no treatments had proved safe and effective for COVID-19, but that's not the case today.

Virginia Tech has announced its keynote speaker for virtual commencement this spring.

Patricia Hailes Fears, pastor of the Fellowship Baptist Church in Washington, is administered with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine during a gathering of a group of interfaith clergy members, community leaders and officials at the Washington National Cathedral, to encourage faith communities to get the COVID-19 vaccine, Tuesday, March 16, 2021, in Washington. AdFollowing a moment of prayer for COVID-19 victims, the socially distanced attendees applauded when the Rev. Ad“We often get asked, can you get COVID-19 from the vaccine? It is impossible to get COVID-19 from the vaccine," Fauci said, sporting a gray face mask with drawings of laboratory beakers. In Washington, Black residents account for a little under half the population but nearly three-fourths of COVID-19 deaths.

This July 2020 photo provided by Johnson & Johnson shows a vial of the COVID-19 vaccine in Belgium. (Johnson & Johnson via AP)WASHINGTON – The U.S. is getting a third vaccine to prevent COVID-19, as the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two. Like other COVID-19 vaccines, the main side effects of the J&J shot are pain at the injection site and flu-like fever, fatigue and headache. All COVID-19 vaccines train the body to recognize the new coronavirus, usually by spotting the spikey protein that coats it. It’s the same technology the company used in making an Ebola vaccine, and similar to COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca and China’s CanSino Biologics.

President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, in Bethesda, Md. – President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. will have enough supply of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the summer to inoculate 300 million Americans. He toured the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory that created the COVID-19 vaccine now manufactured by Moderna and being rolled out in the U.S. and other countries. The U.S. is on pace to exceed Biden’s goal of administering 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office, with more than 26 million shots delivered in his first three weeks. On the tour, Biden was shown the lab bench where researchers sequenced the virus and developed the precursor of the Moderna vaccine.

Lander added that Biden has tasked his advisers and “the whole scientific community and the American public” to “rise to this moment." Biden also named two prominent female scientists to co-chair the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Biden picked Alondra Nelson of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, a social scientist who studies science, technology and social inequality, as deputy science policy chief. The president-elect noted the team's diversity and repeated his promise that his administration's science policy and investments would target historically disadvantaged and underserved communities. The job as director of science and technology policy requires Senate confirmation.

President-elect Joe Biden picked a pioneering geneticist to be his science advisor and elevated the job to his Cabinet. Saying “science will always be at the forefront of my administration,” Biden said he is boosting the science advisor post to Cabinet level, a first in White House history. The job as director of science and technology policy requires Senate confirmation. Science organizations were also quick to praise Lander and the promotion of the science post. Biden chose Alondra Nelson of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, a social scientist who studies science, technology and social inequality, as deputy science policy chief.

The U.S. is poised to give the green light as early as Friday, Dec. 18, to a second COVID-19 vaccine, a critical new weapon against the surging coronavirus. FDA’s decision could help pave the way for other countries that are considering the Moderna vaccine, the first-ever regulatory clearance for the small Cambridge, Massachusetts, company. The FDA’s main messages:--Both the new Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech shot require two doses several weeks apart. --In a study of 30,000 volunteers, the Moderna vaccine was more than 94% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in people 18 and older. But there was a hint that Moderna’s shot might provide some protection against asymptomatic infection.

“I feel like healing is coming.”With a countdown of “3-2-1,” workers at Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center gave initial injections to applause. High-risk health care workers were first in line. It just represents a moral failing,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, a public health researcher at Johns Hopkins. And later this week, the FDA will decide whether to greenlight the world’s second rigorously studied COVID-19 vaccine, made by Moderna Inc. “We’re also in the middle of a surge, and it’s the holidays, and our health care workers have been working at an extraordinary pace,” said Sue Mashni, chief pharmacy officer at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City.

The first drug was approved Friday for a rare genetic disorder that stunts growth and causes rapid aging in children, after studies showed it can extend their lives. Kids with the genetic disorder progeria typically die in their early teens, usually from heart disease. But in testing, children taking the drug Zokinvy lived 2 1/2 years longer on average. Research on the treatment was mainly funded by the Progeria Research Foundation in Peabody, Massachusetts, with help from drug developer Eiger BioPharmaceuticals. The FDA action was based on two studies in which a total of 62 kids took the drug twice a day.

Moderna Inc. and competitor Pfizer Inc. recently announced preliminary results showing their vaccines appear more than 90% effective, at least for short-term protection against COVID-19. Instead, the vaccines are made with a brand-new technology that injects a piece of genetic code for the spike protein. TROJAN HORSE VACCINESA different way to target the spike protein: Use another, harmless virus to carry the spike gene into the body. Once again, the body produces some spike protein and primes the immune system. But inactivated vaccines give the body a sneak peek at the germ itself rather than just that single spike protein.

We can’t take another hit.”___MIAMI - Florida has reported a slight uptick in daily confirmed COVID-19 cases, adding 3,449 to its total caseload on Friday. There were 3,861 new coronavirus cases reported in Wisconsin on Friday, breaking the previous record set just a day earlier of 3,747. The report, released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, looks at coronavirus-associated deaths reported between May 1 and August 31. The deaths reported Friday include 10 women and eight men, all in their 60s or older. With 222 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, Spain’s total has reached 33,775.

French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer A. Doudna have won the Nobel Prize 2020 in chemistry for developing a method of genome editing likened to 'molecular scissors' that offer the promise of one day curing genetic diseases. “There is enormous power in this genetic tool,” said Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. In 1911, Marie Curie was the sole recipient of the chemistry award, as was Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin in 1964. ___Read more stories about Nobel Prizes past and present by The Associated Press at https://www.apnews.com/NobelPrizes___This story was first published Oct. 7, 2020. It was updated on Oct. 8, 2020, to correct the aim of clinical trials that are underway with the gene-editing tool CRISPR.

Several drugs have proved useful and doctors know more about how to care for the sickest patients in hospitals, he said. People who have died from COVID-19, especially ones who took part in studies, have helped reveal what drugs do or do not help. Two anti-inflammatory drugs, one used in combination with remdesivir — the drug Wang helped test — also have been reported to help although results of those studies have not yet been published. In hospitals, doctors know more now about ways to avoid using breathing machines, such as keeping patients on their bellies. “Prevention is the most important step right now as we’re waiting for a vaccine and we’re improving treatment,” Goodman said.

President Donald Trump is pushing for a faster timeline, which many experts say is risky and may not allow for adequate testing. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn pledged that career scientists, not politicians, will decide whether any coronavirus vaccine meets clearly stated standards that it works and is safe. In one of the largest studies yet, Johnson & Johnson aims to enroll 60,000 volunteers to test its single-dose approach in the U.S., South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. J&J’s vaccine is made with slightly different technology than others in late-stage testing, modeled on an Ebola vaccine the company created. Going forward, “we need uniformity throughout the country.”In a testy exchange, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky insisted public health officials were wrong that a lockdown could change the course of the pandemic.

– In front of baskets of tomatoes and peppers, near a sizzling burrito grill, the “promotoras” stop masked shoppers at a busy Latino farmers market: Want to test a COVID-19 vaccine? Many thousands of volunteers from minority groups are needed for huge clinical trials underway or about to begin. Scientists say a diverse group of test subjects is vital to determining whether a vaccine is safe and effective for everyone and instilling broad public confidence in the shots once they become available. Together they make up nearly 40% of the U.S. population, and an equitable vaccine study would match those demographics, though health officials would like to see even greater numbers. —-The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education.

But public fears that a vaccine is unsafe or ineffective could be disastrous, derailing the effort to vaccinate millions of Americans. DOING THE MATHThe FDA already has told manufacturers it won't consider any vaccine that's less than 50% effective. On the other hand, if equal numbers from the vaccine and placebo groups got infected, the DSMB might declare a vaccine futile, he told The Associated Press. These panels also can calculate infections even before that 150 threshold is met, at set time points in each study. Several vaccine candidates made by Chinese companies are in late stages of testing in various countries, but with smaller numbers of volunteers.

AstraZeneca announced Monday its vaccine candidate has entered the final testing stage in the U.S. Final testing, experts stress, must be in large numbers of people to know if theyre safe enough for mass vaccinations. Instead, theyre made with the genetic code for the aptly named spike protein that coats the surface of the coronavirus. Chinas government authorized emergency use of CanSino Biologics adenovirus shots in the military ahead of any final testing. Competitor SinoPharm has announced plans for final testing in some other countries.

Who gets to be first in line for a COVID-19 vaccine? Huge studies this summer aim to prove which of several experimental COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. But a COVID-19 vaccine decision is so tricky that this time around, ethicists and vaccine experts from the National Academy of Medicine, chartered by Congress to advise the government, are being asked to weigh in, too. Indeed, the risks for health workers today are far different than in the pandemics early days. Now, health workers in COVID-19 treatment units often are the best protected; others may be more at risk, committee members noted.

Faith and science are both under unprecedented pressures during a pandemic thats asked them to deliver comfort or certainty while at times straining their relationship. And Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, describes his faith and his public health work as mutually reinforcing. The influence of faith on some of the governments top coronavirus fighters illustrates its complicated connection to science. Faith and science have not been in tension for him, Redfield said. I see science as the most reliable way to study nature and that includes this virus, Collins said by email.

Only about half of Americans say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if the scientists working furiously to create one succeed, according to a poll conducted May 14-18 by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The NIH is creating a master plan for testing the leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates in tens of thousands of people, to prove if they really work and also if they're safe. Among those who want a vaccine, the AP-NORC poll found protecting themselves, their family and the community are the top reasons. Yet the poll found just 25% of African Americans and 37% of Hispanics would get a vaccine compared to 56% of whites. Worldwide, about a dozen COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in early stages of testing or poised to begin.

As the manufacturing side gets into place, the National Institutes of Health is working in parallel to speed the science. The World Health Organization and global health leaders have made clear that any vaccine must be shared equally between rich and poor countries. Trump said the U.S. would work with other countries, no matter who found a vaccine first. "Vaccine or no vaccine, were back, Trump said, as states begin to reopen despite fears of a second wave of the virus. Despite all the emphasis on speed, Collins stressed that no corners are going to be cut on safety and scientists will be carefully looking for side effects.