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Science

The UA to become point of distribution for COVID-19 vaccine

By Udbhav Venkataraman

The Pima County Health Department has designated the University of Arizona to be one of the points of distribution for vaccination as a part of Phase 1B in the vaccine rollout plan. The UA will administer the Pfizer vaccine at no out-of-pocket expense. They will primarily be serving teachers, educators and childcare workers. This includes teachers, faculty and staff at the K-12 schools in Pima County, Pima Community College and over 15,000 faculty and staff at the UA. Read more

UA COVID-19 Test Tracker

Daily (1/19)
777 14 %
Total (8/4)
127,198 3,646 %
Includes tests since August 4, 2020
Data from https://covid19.arizona.edu/updates
Updated January 19, 2021

The UA to become point of distribution for COVID-19 vaccine

The Pima County Health Department has designated the University of Arizona to be one of the points of distribution for vaccination as a part of Phase 1B in the vaccine rollout plan. The UA will administer the Pfizer vaccine at no out-of-pocket expense. They will primarily be serving teachers, educators and childcare workers. This includes teachers, faculty and staff at the K-12 schools in Pima County, Pima Community College and over 15,000 faculty and staff at the UA. Read more

New coronavirus strain B.1.1.7 to be dominant by March, CDC says

Just over one year ago, scientists around the world began to sequence the SARS-CoV-2 virus with the aim of finding out more about the novel and enigmatic coronavirus. A few months ago, experts began to notice mutations in the virus' genome that have led to a new round of lockdowns and increased concern around the globe. Read more

Tucson declared a climate emergency: What happens next?

As University of Arizona junior and climate activist, Kyle Kline, chanted among several hundred concerned Tucsonans at a September 2019 climate strike, his hope was that city officials would solidify their commitments to climate action.  “The main asks for the strike were the climate emergency declaration and the climate action plans,” Kline said.  During the following year, Kline dedicated his time away from classes to gathering signatures, planning another climate strike and advocating alongside environmental organizations with the hopes of proving to city administration that this is what members of the community want.  Read more

Is the new coronavirus variant cause for concern?

Across the pond, in the United Kingdom, a new variant of the original SARS-CoV-2 virus was first identified. As an RNA virus, the novel coronavirus is more susceptible to mutations, given its weaker proofreading capabilities. The variant, called B.1.1.7., has a handful of mutations — 23, in total — in its genetic code. Read more

Frontline workers reflect nine months into COVID-19 pandemic

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared the coronavirus outbreak a "pandemic." Since then, the world has documented 75 million infections and 1.7 million deaths, and the U.S. is currently seeing its worst days in terms of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Read more

Behind the Beaker: DW Science Podcast

Behind the Beaker is a science podcast created by Alex Pere, about the unbelievable science and even more unbelievable scientists behind it at the University of Arizona. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcast or anywhere you stream podcasts! Weekly episodes feature scientists from across the board. Read more

FDA approves Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, distribution begins

On Friday, Dec. 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for Pfizer/BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine as the country is currently seeing record numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. This action will pave the way for millions across the U.S. to start receiving the vaccine this week. Read more

UA graduate student studies the chatty life of covert squirrel

University of Arizona researcher Allie Burnett knows more about the elusive Harris’ antelope ground squirrel than practically anyone in the world. “They’re not chipmunks,” she often corrects people. At her study site in the UA Santa Rita Experimental Range, a blur of stripes ripped through the desert dust and she thought, “Was that a zebra-tailed lizard, or was that an antelope squirrel?”  Read more

COVID-19 and basic science research: What has changed?

It is no secret that COVID-19 has had a devastating impact worldwide, on both academic and non-academic interests. Within the United States, we are leading the world in case count and total deaths, with over 14 million cases and 266,000 deaths reported since January 2020. Read more

Personalized vaccines: The new frontier in cancer treatment

Exciting results from a new clinical study showed that a personalized vaccine combined with an immunotherapy drug had a promising response rate in patients with advanced incurable head and neck cancer. Dr. Julie Bauman, chief of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine — Tucson, led a phase one clinical trial with the pharmaceutical company, Moderna, to test the combined use of personalized vaccines created from tumor DNA with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab. Read more