Viruses

The reports’ authors say that the novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, jumped from animals sold at the market to people twice in late 2019—but some scientists want more definitive evidence

It’s too soon to know if the variant causes milder COVID, but its transmissibility and ability to evade vaccines are still cause for concern

The rapid spread of new variants such as Omicron offers clues to how SARS-CoV-2 is adapting and how the pandemic will play out over the next several months

The rapid spread of new variants such as Omicron offers clues to how SARS-CoV-2 is adapting and how the pandemic will play out over the next several months

The numerous changes in the coronavirus’s spike protein could have arisen in an isolated population or an immunocompromised person—or animals

A mechanism known as “original antigenic sin” protects some people from flu. Whether it helps immune reactions to coronaviruses is still unclear

A new delivery method for certain vaccines could make the lifesaving treatments more effective and accessible

The pandemic has brought the nursing profession into crisis; the solution is in the public’s hands

A new book reveals how quiet scientists, big drug companies and the Trump administration raced to meet the COVID threat—and why kids are just now being considered for shots

The Merck pill, which could become the first oral antiviral COVID treatment, forces the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 to mutate itself to death

Innate immunity might be the key to why children have fared better with the virus. But the Delta variant poses fresh unknowns

Pioneers of mRNA vaccines and next-generation sequencing techniques are among the winners of science’s most lucrative awards