Merck & Co. said Friday that its experimental Covid-19 pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus and that it would soon ask health officials in the U.S. and around the world to authorize its use. If cleared, Merck’s drug would be the first pill shown to treat Covid-19, a potentially major advance in efforts to fight the pandemic. All Covid-19 therapies now authorized in the U.S. require an IV or injection. Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said early results showed patients who received the drug, called molnupiravir, within five days of Covid-19…

A head-to-head study of all three authorized coronavirus vaccines in the United States finds the Moderna vaccine is slightly more effective than Pfizer's in real-life use in keeping people out of the hospital, and Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine comes in third, but still providing 71% protection. Pfizer's vaccine provided 88% protection against hospitalization, and Moderna's was 93% effective. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention led a nationwide study of vaccination involving more than 3,600 adults hospitalized for Covid-19 between March and August. "Among U.S. adults without immunocompromising conditions, vaccine effectiveness against Covid-19 hospitalization during March 11--August 15,…

Moderna Inc. has released a set of data which suggested its Covid-19 vaccine is effective in preventing serious health issues or death from "variants of concern" but admitting that efficacy decreases over time, such that those who received the vaccine last year were twice more likely to contract a breakthrough case of the coronavirus disease. According to the data, which Moderna released Wednesday, a "study shows lower risk of breakthrough infection in participants vaccinated more recently (median 8 months after first dose) than participants vaccinated last year (median 13 months after first dose)." A Moderna trial conducted over the summer,…

With time, monitors have grown wider and wider to give us more space and more resolution for videos and gaming. Setting up your screen horizontally may come naturally to you—that’s how it’s shown on the box anyway—but when you’re working, it might not be the most efficient option. Flipping your external monitor into a vertical position is easy to do and can make more efficient use of every single inch of your screen. When you’re using programs like Microsoft Word or Google Docs, or you’re looking at traditional scroll-down webpages, there’s only so much a wider screen can do for…