Boosters

New York drops mask requirement on public transportation NEW YORK (AP) — New York state is dropping its mask requirement on public transportation thanks in part to the availability of new booster shots targeting the most common strain of COVID-19, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday. AP NEWS

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Masks will be encouraged but not required on buses and trains including the New York City subway system, Hochul said.

Americans may need yearly shots to protect against Covid-19 Americans may need to get a single Covid-19 vaccination every year, federal health officials said Tuesday, making clear that the country will be living with the coronavirus for the foreseeable future. Brenda Goodman, CNN CNN

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New Omicron-specific vaccines offer similar protection to existing boosters Nature - Updated COVID jabs have been approved in the United States and United Kingdom, but they offer roughly the same protection as existing vaccines, a study suggests. Callaway, Ewen nature

In the coming days, people in the United States and the United Kingdom will be among the first to receive a new breed of COVID-19 vaccine. The hope was that these updated vaccines — based on Omicron variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus — would offer substantially greater protection than older vaccines based on the strain of the virus that emerged in 2019.