Ailsa Chang

In recent months, we've learned about several new variants of the coronavirus that have popped up in the U.S. Scientists recently reported seven new and distinct variants.

Dr. Paul Stoffels, the chief scientific officer at Johnson & Johnson, tells NPR the company's vaccine is very effective where it matters most: preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

The Navajo Nation is shifting its focus to mass vaccinations to fight against the pandemic's hold on Indigenous communities.

Cuomo says Weezer is always looking to try the opposite of whatever it just did. Case in point: the band's new orchestral record, made back to back with a metal album.

South Dakota has administered roughly 80,000 of the 106,000 doses it has received so far, or 75%. Dr. Shankar Kurra in Rapid City says a centralized system helped for coordination.

Mike Milosh, the voice of the R&B collective, says creativity permeates every hour of his life — so he tried to make a sacred space for it while recording his new album, Home.

Lydia Mobley has experienced the pandemic's deadliest days from the inside of a Michigan hospital. "You see people not wearing masks. And then you go to work and you watch people die," the nurse says.

An informal survey found that 60% of Los Angeles police employees would get the vaccine when it's available to them. LAPD Chief Michel Moore describes how the department plans to increase that number.

The former FBI director is out with a new book assessing the Trump presidency, ex-Attorney General William Barr and the Mueller report. He tells NPR he was "sickened" by the attack on the Capitol.

Dr. Nichole Bosson of the LA County Emergency Medical Services Agency explains Monday's orders not to transport some patients and to limit oxygen use amid Los Angeles' massive COVID-19 surge.

Kris Ehresmann of the Minnesota Department of Health says the holidays were a big reason that not as many people were vaccinated as had been planned.

As the city's hospitals reach a breaking point, Mayor Eric Garcetti says Los Angeles needs more vaccine doses as soon as possible: "We can go as fast as you give us those vaccines."

Kate Leone of Feeding America and Emily Slazer of Second Harvest Food Bank in New Orleans describe the acute challenges food banks are facing as they try to feed the rising ranks of the hungry.

The FDA will likely make a decision about approving Pfizer's vaccine "shortly after" an advisory committee meeting on Thursday. The agency has found "no specific safety concerns" about the vaccine.

To celebrate the launch of NPR's 2020 Book Concierge, each All Things Considered host will share a favorite book. Ailsa Chang's is Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is taking a county-by-county approach. Dr. LouAnn Woodward of the University of Mississippi supports a statewide order and laments the politicization of mask-wearing.

To turn around the current jump in coronavirus cases, epidemiologist Ellie Murray says governments need to focus on the places that are driving the spread, like restaurants and bars.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with two conservative members of Generation Z in California about how it feels to have conservative political views in an overwhelmingly blue state.

An NPR investigation follows the legal battle unfolding over evidence that many inmates' lungs fill with fluid as they're executed by lethal injection.

Comic artist Allie Brosh has just published her long-awaited second book, Solutions and Other Problems. It's full of her trademark googly-eyed drawings and stories about life, pets and loss.