What you need to know about at-home rapid tests and their results

At-home rapid tests have proven to be a powerful weapon in the country's battle against the coronavirus and its latest variants, but the surge of the omicron variant has left U.S. consumers to contend with concerns about access, efficacy and rising costs among the numerous options on the market.

Health experts say rapid tests remain a useful tool as the country braces for the latest surge in cases, as long as they can be obtained and are considered in the right context. The tests sacrifice some accuracy for speedy results, but they can be an aid for making decisions and knowing when to get additional treatment.

The most accurate tests available are polymerase chain reaction tests, or PCR tests, which detect tiny snippets of the virus’s genetic material. Because the tests require specialized lab equipment, people can wait for days to get their results, particularly when there are surges, as demand grows and logjams are created.

Mexico approves use of Cuba's Abdala coronavirus vaccine | AP News MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s health safety council announced Wednesday that it has approved the use of Cuba’s three-dose Abdala coronavirus vaccine. The council said it had sufficient evidence the vaccine is safe and effective. AP NEWS

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The approval for emergency use does not necessarily mean the Mexican government, which is currently the country’s only purchaser of vaccines, will acquire or administer Abdala in Mexico.

Johnson & Johnson's booster shot provides high levels of protection against the omicron variant of Covid-19, according to data from a trial of healthcare workers in South Africa released Thursday.

Preliminary results from the Sisonke study, which have not been peer-reviewed, found that for people who had received one vaccine dose, the booster improved protection against hospitalization to 85 percent from 63 percent.

WHO chief worried about 'tsunami' of omicron, delta cases | AP News BERLIN (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that he's worried about the omicron and delta variants of COVID-19 producing a “tsunami” of cases between them, but he's still hopeful that the world will put the worst of the pandemic behind it in 2022. AP NEWS

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A new, low-cost Texas Children’s Hospital vaccine gets approval for use in India

A COVID-19 vaccine created at the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development in Houston has received emergency use authorization in India, after nearly 10 years of research and funding obstacles in 2020.

The goal is to make the vaccine – called Corbevax – available in other low- and middle-income nations across the globe to help prevent future variants of concern from forming.

“As long as we leave the southern hemisphere unvaccinated new variants of concern for us will emerge," said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean at Baylor's National School of Tropical Medicine. “The only way to stop it is to vaccinate the world and we think our [vaccine] is going to be a major contributor to that."