Is the Novavax COVID Vaccine Actually ‘Better’?
Lots of people are hearing about Novavax, the fourth COVID vaccine option in the U.S., for the first time, but it’s been authorized for use as a primary vaccine series…
You Can Throw Away Your COVID Vaccine Card Now
When I got my latest COVID booster—the new one with the updated spike proteins, which we should all make sure to get—the pharmacist asked, as I rolled my sleeve back…
Why It’s So Hard to Get the New COVID Booster
There’s a new COVID booster at pharmacies, and the simple thing to say about it is this: It’s good, it’s free, and you should get it. Unfortunately, the process of…
You Might Want a Longer Needle for Your Next Vaccine
Like many other Americans, in 2021, I volunteered at a mass vaccine site. Under a tent, a team of health care professionals loaded up syringes, which were then carried by…
How to Boost Your Child’s Immune System This School Year
Back-to-school time means kids will come home with sniffles, sneezes, and coughs. While there isn’t a way to keep them healthy all the time, and no one has a cure…
Why (and When) You Should Get Both a COVID Shot and a Flu Shot This Fall
The COVID shots of 2021—and even the bivalent booster you may have gotten recently—are no longer a great match for the strains of the virus that are going around. Fortunately,…
We’re Finally Getting an RSV Vaccine for Babies
RSV may be just a cold for most people who get it, but it can be life-threatening to babies. Fortunately, we now have an immunization that can protect little ones,…
You Might Want to Get a Flu Shot Early If You’re Pregnant, CDC Says
It’s summer. Pretty soon, drugstores will start advertising that they have flu vaccines, maybe even enticing you with the promise of a coupon to come in and get one. But…
How to Know When (or If) You Need Another COVID Vaccine
What started as a simple recipe for COVID protection—get a jab, come back in three weeks and get another—became a byzantine labyrinth to navigate over the last thirty months. The…
Five Things That Could Save Your Life If You’re Immunocompromised
Hello from day 1,113 of isolation. It’s me, your immunocompromised friend in hell. Most days, it feels like the entire world wants you to eff off and die before they’ll…