Medical Treatments

AstraZeneca Chastised For For Using Outdated Data To Claim A Vaccine Efficacy Of 79%

4:25pm March 23, 2021

by Joe Palca

AstraZeneca was chastised by a committee charged with reviewing its COVID-19 vaccine study results. AstraZeneca claimed a vaccine efficacy of 79%, but the committee said that was using outdated data.

Preliminary Study Results Deem The AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Safe And Effective

4:09pm March 22, 2021

by Joe Palca

Preliminary results from a study of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine indicates it's safe and effective. The company plans to file a request with the FDA for emergency authorization to distribute doses.

Queue Listen Now

A Pennsylvania Pharmacist On Her Experience And Role Distributing COVID-19 Vaccines

4:09pm March 22, 2021

NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Chichi Ilonzo Momah, owner of a community pharmacy in Springfield, Pa., about her experience and role distributing the vaccines as a local pharmacist.

Pressure For COVID-19 Vaccine Diplomacy In The Global Race Against Time And Variants

4:09pm March 22, 2021

by Tamara Keith

The Biden administration plans to loan millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses to Mexico and Canada. But there's pressure for more vaccine diplomacy in the global race against time and variants.

Health & Safety

COVID-19 Vaccine Progress Could Mean Good News For Malaria Vaccine

5:14pm March 21, 2021

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Dr. Pedro Alonso, director of the World Health Organization's global malaria program, about how COVID-19 vaccine development could improve the fight against malaria.

Dr. Hansel Tookes made sure his first dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami on Dec. 15. was televised, as a way to combat hesitancy.

Health & Safety

More Black And Latinx Americans Are Embracing COVID-19 Vaccination

10:16am March 20, 2021

by Jon Hamilton

Surveys show that support for COVID-19 vaccines is rising among Black and Latinx populations, now that tens of millions of Americans have safely received the shots.

Queue Listen Now

How The COVID-19 Vaccine Trials In Children Are Going To Work

5:01pm March 19, 2021

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chair of the Committee on Infectious Disease for the American Academy of Pediatrics, about the COVID-19 vaccine trials in children.

After Countries In Europe Suspended It, Experts Conclude AstraZeneca Vaccine Is Safe

4:20pm March 18, 2021

by Rob Schmitz

The European Medicines Agency has concluded that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is safe for use, despite some cases of blood clots among the millions who have received the vaccine.

Dr. Sabine Straus, chair of the European Medicines Agency's Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee, said Thursday that the committee had concluded there is no increase in the overall risk of blood clots with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

European Medicines Agency Finds AstraZeneca Vaccine Safe And Effective

1:29pm March 18, 2021

by Laurel Wamsley

"Its benefits continue to be far greater than its risks," said Dr. Sabine Straus of the agency's risk committee. It found no increase in the overall risk of blood clots with the vaccine.

Many hospitals, including Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., reported reaching capacity in their ICUs during the winter surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations. These conditions, according to research, may have led to more deaths.

Health & Safety

Lessons From The COVID-19 Crisis: Overcrowding Hospitals Cost Lives

11:08am March 18, 2021

by Will Stone

Researchers have quantified the price paid for fast-spreading COVID-19 infections. Patients who might have survived otherwise perished in crowded ICUs.