Liz Szabo

Billions of dollars invested in mRNA vaccines and COVID research could yield health care dividends for decades to come.

The CDC reached out to pharmacists Wednesday to reinforce the message that people with moderate to severe immune suppression are eligible for fourth COVID shots. The action came in the wake of a Kaiser Health News story about pharmacists refusing to give fourth shots to patients with significant immune suppression.

At first glance, the mutations in the highly contagious delta variant don’t look that worrisome. But upon further inspection, scientists have discovered new genetic changes that make it more dangerous in many ways. In this piece from Kaiser Health News , Liz Szabo reports on what they've learned so far about how it differs from the original strain of novel coronavirus.

In addition to killing 600,000 individuals in the United States and afflicting an estimated 3.4 million or more with persistent symptoms, the COVID-19 pandemic threatens the health of vulnerable people devastated by the loss of jobs, homes and opportunities for the future.