Year: 2021

The U.S. biotechnology firm Moderna said Tuesday that recent trials of its COVID-19 vaccine show it to be safe and effective on adolescents ages 12 to 17.  The company said it will submit the findings to the U.S. Food and Drug administration (FDA) next month…

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated Tuesday in low-lying areas of two Indian states and moved to cyclone shelters to escape a powerful storm barreling toward the eastern coast. Cyclone Yaas is set to turn into a “very severe cyclonic storm” with sustained wind speeds of up…

Ahead of what is forecast to be an above-normal hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin, the U.S. government is doubling funding to prepare communities for such storms or other extreme weather events.  "We have to be ready when disaster strikes," President Joe Biden said on…

For the family of the retired diplomat, the terror struck as they tried desperately to get him past the entrance doors of a private hospital. For the New Delhi family, it came when they had to create a hospital room in their ground-floor apartment. For…

Taiwan has criticized what it calls the “indifference” of the World Health Organization to the health rights of the island’s people, according to Reuters. The WHO’s decision-making body, the World Health Assembly, begins its A man reacts as a health worker in protective suit takes his nasal swab sample to test for COVID-19 in New Delhi,…

The World Health Organization chief opened the agency’s annual World Health Assembly in Geneva Monday by paying tribute to the 115,000 health care workers around the world who lost their lives fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. In his comments to the WHO decision-making body, Director-General Tedros Adhanom…

The Australian government is being urged to offer citizens cash and lottery tickets as incentives to boost slow rates of COVID-19 vaccinations. Public health and advertising experts say more needs to be done to counter mounting hesitancy and confusion about a mass inoculation program. Research commissioned by two Australian newspapers found a third of respondents don’t intend to get…

An investigation was underway Monday into the deaths of 21 runners during a mountain ultra-marathon in northwest China, as harrowing testimony emerged from survivors who battled to safety through freezing temperatures and bone-chilling winds. The extreme weather struck a high-altitude section of the 100-kilometer (62-mile) race held in the…

India is nearing 300,000 recorded deaths from the coronavirus, after adding more than 3,700 deaths in the last 24 hours.   The country reported more than 240,000 new infections Sunday – a number that many believe is an undercount because of limited testing resources.  …

Ending the COVID-19 pandemic and preventing future pandemics is expected to dominate discussions during this week’s 74th World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization.  The session will also address other pressing global health issues.The 2021 World Health Assembly will be held…

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is investigating reports  that young people have developed myocarditis, or heart inflammation, after being inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine.The agency’s vaccine safety group said in a recent report that there have been “relatively few reports“…

Yuan Longping, a Chinese scientist who developed higher-yield rice varieties that helped feed people around the world, died Saturday at a hospital in the southern city of Changsha, the Xinhua News agency reported. He was 91.Yuan spent his life researching rice and was a household…

Virgin Galactic on Saturday made its first rocket-powered flight from New Mexico to the fringe of space in a manned shuttle, as the company forges toward offering tourist flights to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere.High above the desert in a cloudless sky, VSS Unity…

COVID-19, climate change and cooperation in high-tech industries were the focus of a summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House Friday. While the leaders also discussed North Korea, prospects for a breakthrough on denuclearization appear dim.…

U.S. and German vaccine partners Pfizer and BioNTech on Friday pledged to deliver 2 billion doses of their vaccine to low- and middle-income nations as part of a global effort to close the vaccine gap between rich and poor nations.Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, speaking in…

The White House COVID-19 response team said Friday that major online dating sites are pitching in to encourage more people in the United States to get vaccinated.At the response team’s Friday briefing, Andy Slavitt, senior White House adviser, told reporters that major dating sites including…

Twenty-two-year-old Meta Josten from the Democratic Republic of Congo was already living a hard life in one of Uganda’s refugee settlements. When the Ugandan government announced measures last year to control the spread of COVID-19, life got even harder.With little or no work available to…

The true number of global deaths attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic is probably two to three times higher than those officially documented, findings in this year's World Health Statistics Report suggest.Based on excess death since the pandemic began, World Health Organization officials believe the true…

U.S. health officials said Thursday that people who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus can go maskless and stop maintaining social distancing in most social settings. Folks, if you’re fully vaccinated — you no longer need to wear a mask.If you’re not vaccinated yet — go to Taisei Kikuchi performs in the park competition during a…