Health News

Revising guidelines, UN agency warns air pollution has health risks at far lower levels than previously thought

President Joe Biden is set to announce that the U.S. is doubling, to 1 billion doses, its purchase of Pfizer's COVID-19 shots to share with the world

Racism, climate change and the world’s worsening divisions will take center stage at the U_N_ meeting of world leaders, a day after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world was "on the edge of an abyss.”

Intensive care unit beds are 97% full in Alabama.

Britain’s government has announced plans to share more than a million doses of coronavirus vaccine with South Korea in a “vaccine swap.”

US doubling order for global COVID-19 vaccines to 1 billion doses, Biden to urge 70% world vaccination rate within year

Experts say the U.S. will likely have to learn to live with the virus.

"I think it will be safe. I think it will be effective."

Senior politicians in Germany have expressed shock over the weekend killing of a young gas station clerk who asked a customer to wear a face mask

While there has been a decline in births in the U.S. during the pandemic, a new report suggests the drop may have turned a corner last March as births started rebounding

Officials in the northeast China city of Harbin say national level health officials have been sent to the city to deal with what may be a coronavirus outbreak

The roadblocks and barricades make the streets of this southern Vietnamese city look like they did during the war that ended almost 50 years ago. But this time, the battle is being fought against the rampaging coronavirus. In Vung Tau, just outside Ho Chi Minh city, streets are sealed and checkpoints are set up to control the movement of people. Barbed wire, door panels, steel sheets, chairs and tables are among materials being used to fence up alleys and isolate neighborhoods. A coastal city with half a million people, Vung Tau was untouched by COVID-19 for most of the pandemic. Life was lived much as normal until the first case was registered in late July and the delta variant started to spread in the southern region. A lockdown was ordered quickly. The city's white sand beaches, which had been packed with tourists, were emptied and closed. Residents are asked to stay home and can only go out on the streets for necessities once a week. “Fighting this pandemic is like fighting...

ABC News’ Phil Lipof reports on Rhode Island’s program which, starting March 2022, will let people who inject drugs to use do so at medical facilities, so staff can intervene in case of an overdose.

California is seeing lower coronavirus transmission than other U.S. states as virus cases and hospitalizations decline following a summer surge

Health care workers are exhausted and angry

Hawaii officials are facing pressure to increase COVID-19 testing for travelers

COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have climbed to an average of more than 1,900 a day for the first time since early March, with experts saying the virus is preying largely on a distinct group: 71 million unvaccinated Americans

San Francisco is requiring all workers at San Francisco International Airport to get vaccinated against COVID-19

A doctor who was fired after Harris County public health officials accused him of stealing vials of COVID-19 vaccine to administer to family and friends is suing the county for discrimination

Plus, pediatric hospitalizations are on the rise and Tennessee says it will recommend that vaccinated people be denied treatment with monoclonal antibodies.

Medicare says families and patients have a new online tool to compare COVID-19 vaccination rates among nursing homes

New data shows that two shots given two months apart resulted in 94% protection against symptomatic disease.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro issued a defense of his administration at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, rebuffing criticism of its handling of the pandemic and touting recent data indicating less Amazon deforestation

India says the British government’s decision not to recognize coronavirus vaccine certificates issued by Indian authorities is a “discriminatory policy” that will impact its citizens who want to travel to that country

The shots, given two months apart, can offer 94% protection against infections.

Mandates are essential to creating safe workplaces.

Research advances and public awareness are benefiting those with the disease.

Health officials in the Thai capital have made headway in their effort to vaccinate children against the coronavirus, giving shots of the Pfizer vaccine to students aged 12 to 18 with underlying diseases

San Antonio doctor said he performed an abortion in defiance of a new Texas law.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday will consider whether Missouri can implement a sweeping law aimed at limiting abortions

China's “zero tolerance” strategy of trying to isolate every case and stop transmission of the coronavirus has kept the country where the virus first was detected in late 2019 largely free of the disease

In a major easing of pandemic travel restrictions, the U.S. will allow foreigners to fly into the country this fall if they have vaccination proof and a negative COVID-19 test

Hundreds of demonstrators have marched in the streets of Australia’s second-largest city to protest mandatory coronavirus vaccine rules in the construction industry

Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine works for children ages 5 to 11

COVID-19 has now taken more American lives than the 1918 Influenza, though per capita, the Spanish flu was much more deadly.

India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, will resume exports and donations of surplus coronavirus vaccines in October after halting them during a devastating surge in domestic infections in April

ABC News’ Linsey Davis speaks with Dr. Richard Besser, the former acting CDC director, on Pfizer's announcement on safety and effectiveness for their vaccine for children 5 to 11.

Texas doctor sued days after saying he performed an abortion in defiance of the state's new ban

"We still have an opportunity to turn it around."

The Biden administration is moving to protect workers and communities from extreme heat

COVID-19 has now killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 Spanish flu did -- 675,000, by Johns Hopkins' count

More than 675,000 Americans have now died of COVID-19.

The company says the trial found the vaccine produced minimal side effects, similar to those found in adults and older children.

White House to ease restrictions, require foreign nationals traveling to US to be fully vaccinated starting in November

India says it will resume exports of surplus coronavirus vaccines in October

Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine works for kids ages 5 to 11; plans to seek authorization for this age group soon

The company will submit an Emergency Use Authorization request soon.

Personal trainers have turned a waterfront park into an outdoor gym to get around Sydney’s pandemic lockdown restrictions. Gymgoers work out among onlookers walking their dogs in this picturesque open-air setting in suburban Rushcutters Bay, sometimes under portable pergolas if rain is threatening. Personal trainer Matt Cook says people are over Zoom meetings so he opted for personal contact with clients. “A lot of trainers are offering classes through Zoom,” Cook said. ”But I’ve chosen to do the one-on-one, face-to-face approach outdoors.” Cook has been setting up his equipment at Reg Bartley Park at 5 a.m. each day since the Sydney lockdown began in late June. Gyms are set to reopen in a few weeks as vaccination rates rise. “I think everyone’s excited to get back inside," Cook said. “Even though outdoors is great, there are still a few downsides, the weather being one of them.”

Court rules it's up to doctors to "exercise their judgment" about patients.

"I'm more concerned about the situation now than I ever have been."