EurekAlert! COVID-19 Online Newsroom - Latest News Releases

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 11-Jan-2026 16:11 ET (11-Jan-2026 21:11 GMT/UTC)

Who is more likely to get long COVID?

University of South Australia
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Australian scientists have identified the key genetic drivers behind long COVID, revealing why some people continue to experience debilitating symptoms long after their initial infection.

Journal: PLOS Computational Biology

COVID-19 vaccination significantly reduces risk to pregnant women and baby

University of British Columbia
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Pregnant people who received a COVID-19 vaccine were far less likely to experience severe illness or deliver their babies prematurely, according to a major new UBC-led study published in JAMA. Drawing on data from nearly 20,000 pregnancies across Canada, the research found that vaccination was strongly associated with lower risks of hospitalization, intensive care admission and preterm birth. These benefits persisted as the virus evolved from the Delta variant to Omicron, which has evolved into newer sublineages that still dominate today.

Journal: JAMA
Funder: COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, BC Women's Health Foundation

The role of vaccination in maternal and perinatal outcomes associated with COVID-19 in pregnancy

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: This study found that vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 prior to and during pregnancy, before COVID-19 diagnosis, was associated with a lower risk of severe maternal disease and preterm birth regardless of variant time period.

Journal: JAMA

Study uncovers new drug target for huge class of viruses

University of Maryland Baltimore County
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) study, published in Nature Communications, uncovers how enteroviruses—including those causing polio, myocarditis, encephalitis, and the common cold—hijack host cell machinery to replicate. Researchers determined the structure of a cloverleaf-shaped RNA element in the viral genome bound to the viral protein 3CD, which recruits host factors to form the viral replication complex. 3CD also acts as a switch between genome copying and protein synthesis. This highly conserved mechanism across all seven enteroviruses in the study presents a stable target for developing broad-spectrum antiviral drugs that could disrupt this essential interaction and prevent replication.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, NIH/National Institutes of Health

New white paper analyzes U.S. vaccine safety monitoring system

Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
Reports and Proceedings

In an Annenberg Public Policy Center white paper, biostatistician Jeffrey Morris of the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine analyzes the U.S. vaccine safety monitoring system and suggests how its components, including VAERS, can be improved.

The number of abortions decreased by nearly a quarter in Spain during the two months of strict lockdown due to COVID-19

Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona
Peer-Reviewed Publication

esearch involving Pompeu Fabra University has concluded that abortions in Spain fell by around 24% during the two months of strict lockdown due to covid-19 in the spring of 2020. The study, conducted by the researchers Libertad González (UPF Department of Economics and Business and Barcelona School of Economics) and Karina Trommlerová (Institute of Public Policy of Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia), reveals that this reduction was not due to the closure of clinics or difficulties getting access to the health service, but to a decrease in unwanted pregnancies, especially among single women

Journal: Population and Development Review
Funder: Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness - Severo Ochoa Program Program for Centers of Excellence in R&D

Stanford Medicine study shows why mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines can cause myocarditis

Stanford Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study implicates a pair of substances secreted by immune cells in inducing myocarditis among mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine recipients — and proposes a strategy to mitigate this effect.

Journal: Science Translational Medicine

Politecnico di Milano: Individual behaviour matters more than we think in spreading epidemics

Politecnico di Milano
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Simulations of Turin, Milan and Palermo reveal that individual behaviour affects the intensity and timing of epidemics spreading in urban areas.

Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences

Could hidden infections be fueling long COVID?

Rutgers University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Leading microbiologists from Rutgers Health and other institutes say the condition may be driven by company the coronavirus keeps.

Journal: eLife

Research alert: Old molecules show promise for fighting resistant strains of COVID-19 virus

University of California - San Diego
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Previously-discovered compounds to fight Chagas disease could get now life in the fight against strains of the COVID-19 virus that have become less responsive to treatment.

Journal: Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry

School reopening during COVID-19 pandemic associated with improvement in children’s mental health

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic was linked with significantly lower rates of mental health diagnoses among children, including anxiety, depression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and a drop in related health care spending, according to a new study from researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and colleagues. The benefits were especially pronounced among girls.

Journal: Epidemiology
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

US medical prices and health insurance premiums, 1999-2024

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: This economic evaluation found that insurance premiums have increased at 3 times the rate of workers’ earnings since 1999, accompanied by escalating hospital prices. Health insurance prices increased at rates close to hospital prices during the COVID-19 pandemic but have since stabilized. This volatility reflects both pandemic-era shifts in health care utilization (e.g., limited clinician visits) and higher retained earnings for insurers.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

How can nursing homes protect more patients from infections?

Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new guideline for nursing homes aims to reduce the spread of infections and the rise of antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" while still encouraging social interaction.

Journal: Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology

For some Latinx college graduates, student loan debt affects mental health

University of California - Merced
Peer-Reviewed Publication

According to a new study, the COVID-19 pause on student loan repayments impacted college graduates — including Latinx millennials — by reducing their stress levels and enabling greater confidence in planning for the future.

To treat long COVID, we must learn from historical chronic illnesses, medical researchers say

Cell Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a paper publishing in the Cell Press journal Trends in Immunology on December 4, scientists and doctors highlight the importance of studying long COVID in the context of other post-acute infection syndromes or chronic illnesses. By analyzing historical accounts of other epidemics, they say, researchers can gain important perspective on the profound effects of these chronic illnesses—with the goal of informing more effective interventions for treating them.

Journal: Trends in Immunology
Funder: Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Collaborative COVID-19 Initiative, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

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