As states suddenly expand the categories of people eligible for the first scarce shipments of vaccine, who will be watching to make sure those hit hardest by the pandemic aren't left behind?
It takes time after vaccination for immunity to the virus to build up, and no vaccine is 100% effective. Plus, scientists don't yet know if the vaccine stops viral spread. Here's what's known so far.
Harvard University's Daniel Lieberman looks at exercise from an evolutionary point of view, concluding that we evolved to limit our physical activity where possible, saving it for survival activities.
CNN's chief medical correspondent says it's never too late to develop new brain pathways. Even small changes, like switching up the hand you use to hold your fork, can help optimize brain health.
New York has more people over the age of 65 than the total population of many states. And despite federal aid, the state's system meant to help protect seniors is short tens of millions of dollars.
One of my patients in this devastating year stands out — a veteran who'd survived PTSD, cancer and family estrangement. Assisted living raised his COVID-19 risk, but also brought him community.
In 2020, NPR created and published more than a dozen comics for the pandemic — everything from how to explain it to kids to how to help the older people in your life.
Science writer Robin Marantz Henig has written about dangerous emerging pathogens for 30 years. But none of what she learned could shed light on her own confusing encounter with this virus.
Eleven months into the COVID-19 crisis, an unimaginable death toll has been reached. NPR spoke to doctors, nurses and the bereaved about how they face loss every day.
Within hours, U.S. states are expected have in hand their first shipments of Pfizer's newly FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccine. It marks a new phase in the pandemic, but what's that mean for you?
In the U.S., front-line health care workers are likely first in line to get immunized with a COVID-19 vaccine, once the FDA says yes. But what about the rest of us? Here's what we know so far.
The rule would require health officials to review about 2,400 regulations on everything from Medicare benefits to prescription drugs approvals. Those not analyzed within two years would become void.
Anyone with lingering effects of COVID-19 should be extra careful in picking a 2021 health plan, specialists say. You now have a "pre-existing condition" that could increase medical expenses in 2021.
Older people are more vulnerable to severe COVID-19. But recent research reveals older populations are less consumed by pandemic depression than those that are younger.
A newly approved drug can extend the lives of children with progeria, a rare disorder that causes rapid aging. The drug is the result of one family's effort to help a child with the fatal condition.
When Kansas issued a mask mandate, 81 counties opted out. Researchers found coronavirus infection rates rose sharply in the opt-out counties, while falling in those that required masks.
In Kansas City, hospitals are treating local COVID-19 patients as well as patients transferred from rural counties in Missouri and Kansas, where there's no mandate or culture for wearing masks.
People who get more deep sleep appear less likely to develop Alzheimer's. That may be because this phase of sleep allows the brain to clear out waste products.
Doctors who helped stop Ebola call on Joe Biden's transition team to address COVID-19's racial and economic inequities. The evidence shows a safety net under the most vulnerable protects us all.
Hospitals, a powerful political force in health care, fear lowering the eligibility age for Medicare will cost them billions of dollars because federal reimbursements are less than private insurance.
Gen. Gustave Perna says as soon as the FDA deems a vaccine safe and effective, his team is ready to coordinate deployment of tens of millions of doses as early as next month.
The Trump administration has been marked by a scaled-back federal investment and involvement in U.S. health care. Biden's team has plans to change that — even if Republicans retain Senate control.
With so many infections and deaths from COVID-19 in nursing homes, many in the industry and in government are considering how to make the facilities safer.
Coronavirus cases are surging around the country. How will Joe Biden manage the pandemic differently, once he takes office in January? Expect a more centralized U.S. response plan, his team says.
A team of independent advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a science-based outline for deploying a vaccine when it's ready. The goal is to stop deaths and viral spread fast.
