Infection with adenovirus, a common childhood virus, is the leading hypothesis for recent cases of severe hepatitis of unknown origin in children that have led to at least six deaths, U.S. health officials said on May 20.

Washington reached a $518 million settlement with drug distributors McKesson Corp., AmerisourceBergen Corp. and Cardinal Health, ending a months-long trial over the companies’ alleged role in fueling the opioid epidemic in the state, the three companies announced on May 3.

Novavax shared positive initial results from the Phase I/II clinical study of the company’s proposed combination vaccine for COVID-19.

President Joe Biden on April 5 tasked the U.S. health department with developing a national action plan to tackle the looming health crisis of long COVID, a complex, multi-symptom condition that leaves many of its sufferers unable to work.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on May 13 advised that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks outdoors and can avoid wearing them indoors in most places, updated guidance the agency said will allow life to begin to return to normal. Reuters lays out some of recent scientific evidence on which the CDC and Director Rochelle Walensky based their updated guidelines, including vaccine efficacy against virus variants, increased availability and a reduction in cases.

U.S. states are set to begin using the vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE to inoculate young adolescents against Covid-19 after advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) backed the plan in a unanimous vote on May 12.

Advisors to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will meet on May 12 to discuss recommendations for the use of Pfizer and partner BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine in children aged 12 to 15.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published updated guidance communicating to the public that the coronavirus disease 2019 is an airborne threat, explicitly stating that transmission and subsequent infection with the novel coronavirus can occur via inhalation of very fine respiratory droplets as well as aerosolized particles. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on May 7 that U.S.-bound international air travelers can meet Covid-19 entry requirements using certain self-administered tests.

Americans had the lowest number of babies in more than four decades during 2020, mirroring a slump in European birth rates, as the Covid-19 pandemic forced more people to take care of sick family members or deal with job losses. Birth rate in the United States fell 4 percent in 2020 to about 3.6 million babies, the sixth straight annual decline and the lowest since 1979, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.