Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted Wednesday he "was a little too undiplomatic" when he told people who are still unvaccinated despite being eligible and lacking health problems that they are "an idiot."

BioNTech SE said Monday it had started work on a vaccine tailored to Omicron, the worrying new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa, though it was not yet clear if it would have to rework its established COVID-19 shot.

Nations around the world sought Monday to keep the new omicron variant at bay with travel bans and further restrictions, even as it remains unclear what it means for the COVID-19 pandemic.

BioNTech SE said on Friday it expects more data on a worrying new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa within two weeks to help determine whether its vaccine produced with partner Pfizer Inc would have to be reworked.

While experts say that fully vaccinated people can safely gather during the holidays, infections rates of COVID-19 are high and rising in many areas of the country. So, there’s a good chance that someone at your celebration could be infected with the virus. Now there’s a free online tool that can show you the odds that someone infected with COVID will be at your event, depending on the size of your gathering.

One of the safest ways to socialize with friends and family during the holiday celebrations is to take a rapid antigen COVID-19 test before any gathering. Experts say that taking a test each morning you plan to spend time with people outside your household provides an excellent layer of protection.

The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19 vaccines that have hit the market and COVID-19 vaccines that are in development. The research covers prevention and treatment of the virus, as well as how to overcome it in the long-run.

Federal health officials are imploring Americans to get vaccinated as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations start to climb just ahead of the holidays.

An experimental Lyme disease vaccine shows promise in animal studies and could also help protect against other tick-borne diseases, researchers say.

COVID-19 booster shots trigger much stronger and longer protection than full vaccination with two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, according to a small study.

Pfizer Inc said on Monday its COVID-19 vaccine provided strong long-term protection against the virus in a late-stage study conducted among adolescents aged 12 to 15 years.

Advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday recommended expanding eligibility of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to all adults in the United States, which would pave the way for millions more Americans to get additional protection against the virus.