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COVID-19: variants, vaccines, news and updates

The earliest reports of a novel virus causing an unusual pneumonia emerged in December 2019. In the weeks that followed, the global scientific community identified the virus — a coronavirus, like the viruses that caused SARS and MERS — and named the disease it causes: COVID-19. It spread quickly around the world, upending the rhythms of day-to-day life, changing the patterns of human behavior, stressing health care systems, and killing millions. 

An unprecedented effort to quickly develop vaccines paid off in late 2020, when pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Moderna released data showing that their shots were highly effective. A vaccination campaign quickly helped protect people in higher-income countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, preventing hundreds of thousands of deaths. But vaccinations lagged in lower-income countries, and vaccine equity continues to be a major issue. 

New highly contagious and immune-evading variants, like delta and omicron, drove resurgences of the virus around the world through 2021 and 2022. Broad exposure to the virus and vaccine coverage helped limit the damage. 

Experts say that the coronavirus isn’t going to go away. Population-level immunity and broader access to vaccines will defang its threat, and COVID-19 won’t always be an active public health emergency. But it’s another addition to the list of respiratory viruses we contend with each year. 

Follow all of the updates here. 

  • Richard Lawler

    Oct 20, 2023

    Richard Lawler

    Supreme Court lifts ban on Biden admin contacts with tech platforms about content moderation.

    The DOJ was granted (PDF) a stay of an injunction barring DHS, CISA, FBI, and other federal officials from contact with social media platforms about content moderation. The judge who wrote the injunction this summer claimed their requests about posts containing covid misinformation amounted to a violation of the First Amendment.

    An appeals court limited the terms of the ban last month but paused the process to see if the Supreme Court would weigh in. Now it will hear the DOJ’s appeal, over dissent from three justices (Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch).


  • Barbara Krasnoff

    Sep 26, 2023

    Barbara Krasnoff

    How to order free rapid covid tests from the US government — again

    Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge

    Autumn is here, and once again, warnings are going up about the spread of the covid-19 virus — along with the flu and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus. To try to minimize the upsurge, the US government is once again restarting a program that was last canceled in May 2023 and is again offering free home rapid antigen tests to each US household. According to the government website, orders will start shipping the week of October 2nd.

    As before, it’s extremely simple to put in your order. You will not need to submit a credit card or any other financial information.

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  • Emma Roth

    Sep 11, 2023

    Emma Roth

    FDA approves Pfizer and Moderna covid vaccines with new formula

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    The Food and Drug Administration has approved newly formulated covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Unlike booster shots released in the past, this vaccine isn’t made with components of the original covid variants that spread in 2020. It’s a monovalent vaccine that targets an omicron subvariant instead, reports The New York Times, as advised by the FDA in June.

    The new vaccines specifically address the omicron variant XBB.1.5, which became the dominant covid strain in certain parts of the US last winter and is more closely related to EG.5, which currently accounts for 21.5 percent of cases, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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  • Sean Hollister

    Dec 19, 2022

    Sean Hollister

    Don’t throw out your old expired COVID-19 tests — check this site first.

    My wife and I just rescued six perfectly good tests from the trash! Yes, many COVID-19 tests are effective longer than pharma companies originally wrote, and you can easily find the new date by looking up your test and its Lot Code at the FDA.

    Also: you can now get another free 4-pack from the US government.


  • Nicole Wetsman

    Sep 28, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    COVID-19 tests will no longer get emergency treatment at the FDA

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Since the start of the pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration has signed off on 430 COVID-19 tests through its emergency use authorization powers — rules that let the agency push tests and drugs out the door more quickly during an emergency. Now, over two years later, the agency is backing off that system and will treat most COVID-19 tests just like other medical tests. In a statement Tuesday, the FDA said that most new COVID-19 tests will have to go through the normal, non-emergency test review process.

    “For most new tests, shifting to traditional premarket review would best meet the public health needs at the current stage of the COVID-19 public health emergency,” said Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, in the statement.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Aug 26, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    Moderna is suing Pfizer over its coronavirus vaccine

    An empty vial of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine seen next to...
    Photo by Peerapon Boonyakiat / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

    Moderna is suing Pfizer and BioNTech over alleged infringement of its mRNA vaccine technology patents, the company announced today.

    “We are filing these lawsuits to protect the innovative mRNA technology platform that we pioneered, invested billions of dollars in creating, and patented during the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Moderna chief executive officer Stéphane Bancel in a statement.

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  • Sean Hollister

    Aug 12, 2022

    Sean Hollister

    Twitch changes course, will now require masks at TwitchCon

    Twitch was all set to hold a giant maskless convention in San Diego this October in the midst of monkeypox and the continued threat of COVID-19 — but after an outcry that included both attendees and some of its own streamer partners, the platform has decided to require masks and proof of vaccination once again.

    “We’ve been listening to all of your feedback and know that many of you–especially those who are immunocompromised and the people who support them–want stricter health measures in place to help you feel safe attending TwitchCon San Diego in person,” reads the beginning of a major update to the company’s blog post announcing that tickets were on sale.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Jul 25, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    The White House wants to make next-gen COVID-19 vaccines

    An illustration of several vaccine vials over a pink and purple background.
    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    The White House wants to accelerate the development of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines, Stat News reported Monday. Ideally, future vaccines would offer longer-lasting protection against infection with and transmission of the virus, not just serious illness and death.

    Federal officials, researchers, and representatives from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna will meet Tuesday at a White House “summit” to discuss next steps. It’s unclear if President Biden — who currently has COVID-19 — will participate.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Jul 13, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    FDA authorizes Novavax COVID-19 vaccine

    An illustration of several vaccine vials over a pink and purple background.
    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    The Food and Drug Administration authorized the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for people 18 and older, the fourth shot cleared in the United States. It’s been a long road for this vaccine, and the company faced multiple setbacks over the past few years.

    It’s a different type of vaccine than the ones already on the market in the US — it’s a protein-based vaccine that delivers pieces of the virus spike protein directly to the body. Clinical trials found that the shot was 90 percent effective at preventing COVID-19. The trials, though, were conducted in early 2021 — before the delta and then omicron variants of the virus took over, so those numbers would likely be lower now.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Jul 1, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    COVID-19 variant boosters won’t need new clinical trials for clearance, FDA says

    An illustration of several vaccine vials over a pink and purple background.
    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers won’t need to conduct new clinical trials as they develop booster shots targeting the most recent variants of the virus, a Food and Drug Administration official told Reuters. The agency will use clinical trials of variant-specific boosters developed earlier in the pandemic, manufacturing data, and animal studies to evaluate the shots.

    The omicron variant of the virus has developed into multiple lineages. Right now, the BA.4 and BA.5 variants are the most widespread in the United States. The FDA said Thursday that the next set of booster shots should be against those versions of the virus. But pharmaceutical companies have been testing shots targeting BA.1, an earlier omicron lineage. Early data from Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech shows that those shots generate a strong immune response against the omicron virus — including the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages, although to a lesser extent than BA.1.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Jun 30, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    COVID-19 booster shots should target omicron variants, FDA says

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers should include the newer forms of the omicron coronavirus variant in booster shots this fall, the Food and Drug Administration recommended today.

    The agency said it wants vaccine manufacturers to create booster shots that include two forms of the virus — the original strain, which is what’s in current vaccines, and the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of the omicron variant. Those lineages have taken over as the most common form of the virus circulating in the United States. They’re highly contagious and are even better at evading the immune system than some previous versions of the virus.

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  • Jun 23, 2022

    Rebecca Sohn

    Where’s the next generation of COVID-19 shots?

    Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge

    Over a year after the US authorized its first vaccines, COVID cases continue to pile up, leaving many vaccinated people wondering: “Do I need a vaccine upgrade?” People who are fully vaccinated and boosted have been testing positive in huge numbers, particularly since the omicron-triggered wave started its relentless burn across the United States in December. Vaccines that once caused experts to declare COVID-19 a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” don’t protect as well against illness, even as they continued to protect against the most severe disease. Breakthrough infections are so common that the near-miraculous protection the vaccine promised a year ago feels very far away.

    Part of the problem is that the virus that the vaccines target — the first version of the coronavirus that started spreading in early 2020 — doesn’t exist anymore. Now, regulators, researchers, and vaccine companies are turning to the next phase of the vaccine development process: finding a way to protect against the virus that’s spreading now and finding a way to protect people against future variations of the virus. 

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Jun 17, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    Kids under five can now be vaccinated against COVID-19

    An illustration of several vaccine vials over a pink and purple background.
    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    The Food and Drug Administration has authorized COVID-19 vaccines for children under five — the last age group in the United States to get clearance to receive the shots. The agency authorized both Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for this age group.

    It’s been a long, long wait for young children to get these vaccines, full of delays and frustrating setbacks. The Biden administration has plans in place for the first vaccinations for this age group, which includes kids between six months and five years old, to start the week of June 20th.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    May 31, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    Blood oxygen monitors miss concerning COVID-19 symptoms more often in patients of color

    Saturomètre
    Photo by Jon Akira Yamamoto/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

    Blood oxygen monitors said that hospitalized Asian, Black, and Hispanic COVID-19 patients had higher blood oxygen levels than they actually did, according to a new study. Oxygen levels are an important indicator of how serious someone’s case of COVID-19 is and what medications they’re eligible for — and that overestimation meant that it took longer for Black and Hispanic patients to get necessary treatment.

    Pulse oximeters, the standard way clinics and hospitals measure blood oxygen, work by sending red and infrared light through the fingertip and measuring the amount that’s reflected back. (Hemoglobin, the protein in blood that carries oxygen, absorbs more infrared light when it’s carrying oxygen). For years, studies have shown that those devices don’t work as well on people with darker skin.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    May 23, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    Under-five COVID-19 vaccines near finish line

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    A Food and Drug Administration committee will meet in mid-June to review data on COVID-19 vaccines for children six months through five years old, the agency announced Monday. If all goes as expected, it could sign off on the shots for that age group within days of that meeting.

    The announcement came just after Pfizer / BioNTech said in a Monday morning press release that three doses of their COVID-19 vaccine produced a strong immune response in children between six months and five years old. They plan to submit the data to the Food and Drug Administration this week.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Apr 25, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    Research on COVID-detecting smartwatches still hasn’t panned out

    Smartwatches showing heart signs on their screens.
    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, smartwatch advocates and wearable tech companies thought the devices could help with illness detection. They wanted to flag people who might be sick with the disease using things like their heart rate and oxygen levels. The strategy could still be a reasonable way to track illness, but two years later, the promise hasn’t panned out — the research is still underdeveloped, according to a new review published last week in The Lancet.

    The review looked at 12 research studies and 12 proposed study protocols published in 2020 and 2021 that tried to find patterns in the data collected by devices like the Apple Watch, Fitbit, and Whoop. Most of these studies focused on people who had already tested positive for COVID-19. Researchers looked for patterns in wearable data from the few days before a person got sick, rather than following healthy people and trying to predict who would fall ill. None of the studies were rigorous clinical trials, the authors of this new study noted. None of the existing research tested to see if a wearable device could actually lead to earlier detection of COVID-19.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Apr 19, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    CDC launches new infectious disease forecasting center

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially launched a new center that will forecast infectious disease outbreaks. The Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics is “the equivalent of the National Weather Service for infectious diseases,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday.

    Along with experts in data analytics and disease modeling, the center will also have communications specialists on staff to interpret the information for the public.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Mar 29, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    FDA authorizes second COVID-19 vaccine booster for vulnerable groups

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    The Food and Drug Administration authorized a second booster dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for people over 50 or who are immunocompromised, the agency announced Tuesday.

    The decision comes as the United States heads into yet another wave of infections, this time driven by an even more transmissible version of the omicron variant of the virus. The FDA said in a statement that an additional dose could bolster any waning protection from the vaccines in these groups.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Feb 24, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    Telemedicine leaves behind non-English speakers, study shows

    Physician’S Computer
    Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

    People who speak limited English struggled to access telehealth services in the US during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis, affecting their ability to connect with medical care. It’s something experts worried about as soon as health organizations made the switch from in-person to virtual care.

    “That was really a concern of ours — who is getting left out?” says Denise Payán, an assistant professor of health, society, and behavior at the University of California, Irvine, who worked on the study.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Jan 31, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine gets full FDA approval

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    The Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval to the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the company announced today. The Moderna vaccine joins the Pfizer / BioNTech shot as the second licensed vaccine against the coronavirus in the United States.

    This is Moderna’s first FDA-approved product in the US. “This is a momentous milestone in Moderna’s history,” said Stéphane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna, in a statement.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Jan 27, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    Moderna starts trial of an omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Moderna gave its omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine to the first participant in a clinical trial, the company announced Wednesday. The report comes a few days after Pfizer / BioNTech launched a trial of its shot targeting the fast-spreading variant.

    The announcement coincides with the release of data showing that the two-dose series of Moderna’s original vaccine struggled to block the omicron variant of the virus, which has mutations that help it dodge those antibodies. A booster shot restored much of its ability to neutralize the virus — and while that protection weakened over time, it still stuck around for at least six months.

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  • Nicole Wetsman

    Jan 25, 2022

    Nicole Wetsman

    Pfizer launches study of omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine

    An illustration of several vaccine vials over a pink and purple background.
    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Pfizer and BioNTech are launching a clinical trial to test an omicron-specific version of their COVID-19 vaccine, the companies announced today. They’re moving forward with studies of a new form of the vaccine in response to concerns that the original shot isn’t preventing infection with the newest variant of coronavirus or mild COVID-19 illness — even though it appears to be holding up well in terms of preventing hospitalization and death, especially for people who received a booster.

    The original two-dose series of the gene-based COVID-19 vaccines, made by Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna, don’t appear to offer much protection against infection with the omicron variant with the virus. A third booster dose restores some of that protection, but it’s unclear how long that protection lasts. Two shots are still somewhat effective against severe illness and death, but the third dose solidifies that protection.

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  • Jay Peters

    Jan 14, 2022

    Jay Peters

    Google is now requiring office workers to get weekly molecular COVID-19 tests

    The Google logo on a colorful, geometric background
    The company is implementing new policies as COVID-19 cases rise across the US.
    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Google will require anyone going to one of its US offices or facilities to have received a negative molecular test for COVID-19, the company informed employees Thursday in a memo obtained by CNBC. Workers going to the office regularly will have to get tested weekly, chief health officer Karen DeSalvo said in the memo, and employees have been asked to report their vaccination status and wear surgical-grade masks indoors.

    Google spokesperson Lora Lee Erickson confirmed to The Verge that a new temporary COVID-19 policy is now being implemented, one where “anyone accessing our sites in the US are expected to obtain a recent negative COVID-19 molecular test before coming onsite” and that it’s offering various kinds of tests at no cost.

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  • Jay Peters

    Jan 11, 2022

    Jay Peters

    Meta will require employees to have a COVID-19 booster to return to the office

    The company has announced changes to its office reopening plans.
    The company has announced changes to its office reopening plans.
    Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

    Meta, the parent company of Facebook, will require staffers to have received a COVID-19 booster shot to be able to work from its US offices, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. Meta had already said that US office employees would have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when they returned to the office, but beginning March 28th, they’ll also need proof of a booster vaccine, Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton confirmed to The Verge. The company is also delaying its full office reopening until March 28th, pushing back a return that had been previously set for the end of this month.

    Not all Meta employees will have to return to the office on March 28th. Those who want to come back can defer their return by three to five months, a policy that was first announced in December. The company is also letting staffers request to work remotely full time. Employees will now have until March 14th to decide if they want to come back to the office, defer their return, or request full time remote work, Clayton said.

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  • Emma Roth

    Jan 5, 2022

    Emma Roth

    Sundance Film Festival goes virtual, Grammys postponed over omicron concerns

    Chicago Chapter 60th Anniversary Concert
    Photo by Jeff Schear/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

    Both the Grammy Awards and the Sundance Film Festival have changed their 2022 plans due to a rise in COVID-19 cases across the country (via CNBC and Indiewire). The Grammy Awards show has been postponed until further notice, and the Sundance Film Festival will go virtual, rather than risk an in-person event.

    The 64th Grammy Awards ceremony was scheduled for January 31st, but as noted in a post on the Grammy Awards website, CBS and the Recording Academy have decided to push it back “after careful consideration and analysis with city and state officials, health and safety experts.” There isn’t mention of a rescheduled date, but CBS and the Recording Academy say that “will be announced soon.” The Grammy Awards was postponed last year because of the pandemic and was held in March without a live audience. Viewership for the 2021 Grammys broadcast reportedly hit a record low.

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