Johnson & Johnson: Booster effective against omicron

A recent study of 69,000 health workers in South Africa found a second shot of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine is 85 percent effective at preventing hospitalization. The study has not yet been published or peer reviewed, but the company said the results are consistent with U.S. lab testing that indicates its shot might be an effective mix-and-match booster for people who have received Pfizer’s vaccine.

What’s the latest news with omicron? Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed a daily average of 334 children hospitalized with the coronavirus during the week of Dec. 21. This nears a record of 342 daily hospitalizations in September. However, doctors also report that the children appear to be less sick than many were in the summer with the delta variant. The Food and Drug Administration approved a second at-home rapid test on Tuesday from Siemens Healthineers, but the acting chief scientist said it might not be accurate at differentiating between severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). On Thursday, Israel received its first shipment of Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill, an oral antiviral drug to treat COVID-19 symptoms. The country also approved a fourth vaccine dose for vulnerable people the same day.

Dig deeper: Read Rachel Lynn Aldrich’s report on coronavirus mutations and more science news from 2021.