More than two-thirds of the common side-effects people experience after a Covid jab can be attributed to a negative version of the placebo effect rather than the vaccine itself, researchers claim. Scientists in the US examined data from 12 clinical trials of Covid vaccines and found that the “nocebo effect” accounted for about 76% of all common adverse reactions after the first dose and nearly 52% after the second dose.

New York City and some north-eastern US states appear to be seeing rapid decreases in their numbers of Covid-19 cases in recent days, raising the possibility that the Omicron wave has now already peaked in some parts of America. In New York City the rolling seven-day average of new cases was less than 28,000 a day on 16 January, down from an average of more than 40,000 on 9 January.

Calendar year three into the pandemic, and vaccination coverage among pregnant people remains staggeringly low. According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of January 1, just over 40 percent of pregnant people in the United States between age 18 and 49 were fully vaccinated prior to pregnancy or during their pregnancy, compared with 66 percent of the general population over the age of 5. For Black pregnant people, the figure plummets to about 25 percent. Data for the United Kingdom is a little less up to date, but in August 2021 just 22 percent of women who gave birth were fully vaccinated.

On a visit to a public hospital in a farming community in late November, I saw something that astonished me. Empty beds. Rows of them, their black plastic-covered mattresses stripped of sheets. Blue privacy curtains folded up over rails, out of the way. I had never seen a Zambian hospital like this. When I last toured one, nearly 15 years ago, patients lay two or three to a bed, head-to-feet-to-head. And more on the floor. More on thatch mats in the hallways. The patients were gaunt, their eyes huge above sunken cheeks. Hopelessness and suffering hung in the air.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order aimed at preventing price gouging of at-home COVID-19 test kits. The order, announced Saturday, prohibits sellers from increasing previous prices for the self-test kits by more than 10%. A nationwide shortage of those kits has led to price gouging, with some people reselling the kits for five times as much as they paid for them.

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has tested positive for a breakthrough case of COVID-19. According to a statement released on Ocasio-Cortez's Twitter on Sunday, the Brooklyn-based Democratic congresswoman is symptomatic, despite being fully vaccinated and boostered.

Anti-vaccine activists have spent the past few days spreading lies about Betty White, the beloved actress who passed away at 99 years old on Dec. 31. But contrary to internet rumors, Betty White didn’t die after getting a covid-19 booster shot. “Betty died peacefully in her sleep at her home. People are saying her death was related to getting a booster shot three days earlier but that is not true,” White’s agent, Jeff Witjas, told Yahoo Entertainment.

The ambition is to create a low-cost, open-source alternative to expensive and limited supply mRNA vaccines for developing and under-vaccinated countries.

A new COVID-19 vaccine, developed by researchers from the Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, is being offered patent-free to vaccine manufacturers across the world. Human trials have shown the vaccine to be safe and effective, with India already authorizing its use as production ramps up to over 100 million doses per month.

In late November, more than 110 people gathered at a crowded Christmas party at a restaurant in Oslo, Norway. Most of the guests were fully vaccinated. One had returned from South Africa just a few days earlier and was unknowingly carrying the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

Alex Jones angrily disavowed former President Donald Trump, sparked by his recent comments regarding vaccination.

People with inflammatory bowel disease have 50% more microplastics in their faeces, a study has revealed. Previous research has shown that microplastics can cause intestinal inflammation and other gut problems in laboratory animals, but the research is the first to investigate potential effects on humans. The scientists found 42 microplastic pieces per gram in dried samples from people with IBD and 28 pieces in those from healthy people.

Men who become infected with coronavirus can suffer reduced sperm quality for up to three months, a new study has suggested. Research carried out on 120 men in Belgium by local academics showed that semen is "not infectious" with COVID-19 and therefore cannot be transmitted through sexual contact.

This summer, Omar Rodriguez, 47, was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. And even though he had surgery to get rid of the tumor, there's a 70 percent possibility that it will return within the next five years.

Safety trials are underway for a Cambridge-led vaccine that could be used as a booster targeting COVID-19 virus variants and relatives that threaten future coronavirus pandemics. The first volunteer is expected to receive the vaccine today at the NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility.

Germany's health minister Karl Lauterbach ruled out a Christmas lockdown on Sunday but warned a fifth COVID-19 wave could no longer be stopped and backed mandatory vaccination as the only way to stop the pandemic.

The leadership of the Oklahoma National Guard has acknowledged that its fight with the federal government over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate ultimately may lead to "career ending federal action" for troops. Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino, the top officer for Oklahoma's Guard, released a statement Thursday that opened with a forceful defense of service members under his charge exercising their "personal responsibility" and "the right to not take the vaccine."

Several people remain unconvinced that religious exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines are necessary.

A major British study into mixing COVID-19 vaccines has found that people had a better immune response when they received a first dose of AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech shots followed by Moderna nine weeks later, according to the results on Monday.

The man is so keen to get a vaccine pass he turns up with a plastic arm, but doctors aren't fooled.