COVID-19

Austin Public Health officials are reminding Central Texans that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over. Here are five important things they want people to know right now.

A 75-year-old woman became enmeshed in conspiracy theories about COVID. After she got infected, she rejected effective treatments and sought out black market drugs instead.

A coalition of religious groups, conservative think tanks, and Republican attorneys general have chipped away at local and state authority, altering how the nation can respond during health crises.

New cases of COVID-19 in Texas are increasing again. But predicting how long this wave of infections will continue — and how severe it could be — will not be easy this time around.

BA.5 is now the dominant omicron strain in the U.S. It's good at evading the immune system, though doesn't appear to cause more serious illness.

"COVID is among the leading causes of death for children in this age group [6 months to 5 years old]," Austin-Travis County health authority's told KUT. "So it's really important that we protect our children. And now we have a way to do that."

NPR talks to Claire Hannan, who has helped navigate vaccine rollouts in all 50 states, about some of the challenges involved in quickly getting shots out to millions of young kids.

Lack of trust in the COVID vaccine is the main reason Hispanics in Texas have cited for not getting vaccinated, according to the study.

CDC advisers are recommending the use of two separate COVID-19 vaccines for the youngest children made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, paving the way for vaccine rollout as early as next week.

A committee of experts voted unanimously to recommend that the Food and Drug Administration authorize COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech for children as young as 6-months-old.