South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in August. He called on Western nations on Sunday to scrap travel restrictions placed on southern Africa to stem the spread of the omicron variant. "The prohibition of travel is not informed by science nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant," he said. Tobias Schwarz/Reuters hide caption
A man receives a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Soweto, South Africa. The omicron variant of the coronavirus, first identified in South Africa, has now spread to at least a dozen other countries. On Friday, scientists presented evidence that the variant spreads twice as fast as the delta variant. Denis Farrell/AP hide caption
A graphic showing projected increasing vaccine stockpile. NPR hide caption
A new study suggests that white-tailed deer, like the one here, could carry the virus SARS-CoV-2 indefinitely and spread it back to humans periodically. Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images hide caption
From left: A New Delhi woman waits in an observation room after getting the Covishield vaccine (the name used for the AstraZeneca vaccine in India) on May 26. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves a vaccination center after his first AstraZeneca dose on March 19. On March 9, Nairobi, Kenya, began vaccinating groups, including health care workers and older people, with the AstraZeneca vaccine. From left: Prakash Singh, Aaron Chown, Robert Bonet/Getty Images hide caption
An older person receives their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Thika, Kenya. The vaccine's manufacturer, Serum Institute of India, announced this week that it will freeze all exports of the vaccine through the end of this year — leaving 20 million people in Africa without a source for their second dose. Patrick Meinhardt/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
A patient rests at the COVID ward of the regional hospital in Leova, Moldova, on March 23. Moldova remains one of the poorest countries in Europe and has relied on vaccine donations from Romania and COVAX, a program that aims to distribute the world's vaccines more equitably. Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A phlebotomist draws blood at a free COVID-19 antibody testing event on Feb.17 in Pico Rivera, Calif. Frederic J. Brown=/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A light micrograph of a mature sporangium of a mucor fungus. India is seeing a rise in cases of mucormycosis, a rare but dangerous fungal infection. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images hide caption
Amit Sonawane, 35, an engineer at a district health office, gets his first vaccine dose in Palghar, India. Viraj Nayar for NPR hide caption
Maji Hailemariam Debena in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Maji Hailemariam Debena hide caption
Aziz Abdul Alim, a 103-year-old man from a remote valley in Upper Chitral of northern Pakistan, is both a COVID survivor and a proud supporter of the COVID vaccine. Sohail Ahmad hide caption