Breathing in protection: Scientists say an experimental inhaled COVID-19 vaccine shows promise in animal tests. “The currently available vaccines against COVID-19 are very successful, but the majority of the world’s population is still unvaccinated and there is a critical need for more vaccines that are easy to use and effective at stopping disease and transmission,”…  read on >  read on >

An elderly woman in Belgium was simultaneously infected with two COVID-19 variants of concern, according to a report describing one of the first documented cases of co-infection. The authors said their findings highlight the need for health care providers to be watchful for double infections and the emergence of new variants. The 90-year-old woman was…  read on >  read on >

Men with low testosterone levels have a much higher risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19, a new study from Italy finds. The study included nearly 300 symptomatic male COVID-19 patients who arrived at the emergency department and were admitted to San Raffaele University Hospital in Milan during the first wave of the pandemic.…  read on >  read on >

When schools open their doors this fall, teachers and students who are vaccinated can enter without masks, according to a new guidance issued Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The relaxed recommendation comes as a national vaccination campaign in which children as young as 12 can get COVID-19 shots unfolds, accompanied…  read on >  read on >

COVID-19 vaccines have prevented at least 279,000 deaths and 1.25 million hospitalizations in the United States, but the Delta variant poses a significant threat to that progress, researchers say. “The vaccines have been strikingly successful in reducing the spread of the virus and saving hundreds of thousands of lives in the United States alone,” said…  read on >  read on >

(Healthday News) — No spectators will be allowed at the Olympic Games in Tokyo when they begin in two weeks, organizers announced Thursday. The decision came after a new state of emergency was declared in the city due to a sudden surge in coronavirus cases, The New York Times reported. Last month, officials said they…  read on >  read on >