Tom Howell Jr.

EU open to COVID-19 vaccine waiver after Biden move

The European Union said Thursday it is ready to consider waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines after President Biden threw his support behind the idea.

May 6, 2021

Moderna: COVID-19 vaccine 96% effective in kids ages 12 to 17

Drugmaker Moderna said Thursday its COVID-19 vaccine was 96% effective in a study involving adolescents ages 12 to 17.

May 6, 2021

Google now expects 20% of workers to stay home

Tech giant Google said it now expects roughly 20% of its employees to keep working from home after a new policy goes into effect in September.

May 6, 2021

Yankees, Mets: Get your COVID-19 vaccine at the ballpark and get a free ticket

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday said Yankee Stadium and Citi Field will begin to offer normal seating for fully vaccinated fans and give a free ticket to people who get a COVID-19 shot at the ballparks' vaccination sites.

May 5, 2021

White House on McConnell’s opposition: ‘100% of our focus is on delivering relief’

The White House delivered a soft rebuke to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday after the Kentucky Republican said he is completely focused on "stopping" the Biden administration.

May 5, 2021

Dr. Fauci: FDA approval of Pfizer vaccine for ages 12-15 likely imminent

Canada approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Wednesday for emergency use in children ages 12 to 15 and the U.S. should be right behind it, bolstering immunity to COVID-19 and making it easier for schools to reopen.

May 5, 2021

Steny Hoyer: Democrats ‘open’ to splitting up infrastructure package

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Wednesday said Democrats are open to splitting President Biden's big-spending infrastructure plan into smaller pieces to get it across the finish line but that it is not the preferred option.

May 5, 2021

Trump allies launch election-security group, latest in a growing roster of MAGA advocacy groups

Former President Donald Trump's allies launched an "election integrity alliance" Wednesday to keep tabs on key states as the ex-president continues to air unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

May 5, 2021

GM beats profit forecast despite chip shortage, cites strong market in China, North America

General Motors posted a $3 billion first-quarter profit Wednesday, beating Wall Street expectations amid a semiconductor shortage that held back operations.

May 5, 2021

Indian minister pivots to virtual G-7 meeting after COVID-19 exposure

India's external affairs minister attended Group of 7 meetings in London virtually Wednesday after learning he might have been exposed to the coronavirus by other members of his delegation.

May 5, 2021

South Korea health agency: One dose of Pfizer, AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine highly effective

A single dose of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca was highly effective in staving off infection among people aged 60 and older, South Korea said Wednesday, adding to the bank of data that show the shots are working in the real world.

May 5, 2021

Coronavirus vaccine incentives offered for holdouts: Money, beer, gift cards

Still leery of the COVID-19 vaccine? State workers in Maryland will be $100 richer if they get a shot, while Connecticut residents will be drinkin' good in the neighborhood if they flash their vaccination card at Applebee's and other eateries.

May 4, 2021

Joe Biden wants 70% of U.S. adults to get one COVID-19 vaccine dose by July 4

President Biden said Tuesday he wants at least 70% of U.S. adults to be partly vaccinated with one COVID-19 shot by July 4, the holiday he pinpointed as a starting point for normalcy after the globally disruptive pandemic.

May 4, 2021

Joe Biden to let other states tap into unordered COVID-19 vaccines

The Biden administration will start to offer unordered COVID-19 vaccines to states that want them, a major attempt to address regional mismatches in demand.

May 4, 2021

Joe Biden wants to make Obamacare subsidies permanent

President Biden wants his supersized Obamacare subsidies to last forever, proving his push to inject cash into the program was not so much a balm for pandemic pains as a push to fix glaring affordability gaps in the 2010 law.

May 3, 2021

Long pandemic lockdowns not the answer, lawmakers, doctors, disease trackers agree

The U.S. shut down much of the economy, and still more than half a million Americans died from COVID-19 while children lost out on school, shops shuttered and Congress spent $6 trillion on relief, sparking a consensus that prolonged lockdowns cannot be the treatment of choice for future pandemics.

May 3, 2021

European Union mulls move to welcome vaccinated travelers from U.S., other countries

The European Commission proposed Monday to open member countries to vaccinated tourists from the U.S. and other places by early summer, while including an "emergency brake" in case the COVID-19 picture suddenly worsens from aggressive new variants.

May 3, 2021

Joe Biden: Coronavirus situation ‘very different’ by end of summer

President Biden on Monday declined to say when he thinks the U.S. will reach "herd immunity" to the coronavirus but predicted "we'll be in a very different position" by the end of the summer.

May 3, 2021

EU: Time to open up to COVID-19 vaccinated tourists

The European Commission proposed Monday to open member countries to vaccinated tourists from the U.S. and other places by early summer while including an "emergency brake" in case the COVID-19 picture suddenly worsens from aggressive variants.

May 3, 2021

White House: Biden will deploy a middle-ground approach to N. Korea

The White House said Friday it completed a review of its North Korea policy and will continue to seek denuclearization but strike a middle-ground between the strategies that President Biden's predecessors deployed with little success.

April 30, 2021