Rob Stein
Rob Stein is a correspondent and senior editor on NPR's science desk.
An award-winning science journalist with more than 30 years of experience, Stein mostly covers health and medicine. He tends to focus on stories that illustrate the intersection of science, health, politics, social trends, ethics, and federal science policy. He tracks genetics, stem cells, cancer research, women's health issues, and other science, medical, and health policy news.
Before NPR, Stein worked at The Washington Post for 16 years, first as the newspaper's science editor and then as a national health reporter. Earlier in his career, Stein spent about four years as an editor at NPR's science desk. Before that, he was a science reporter for United Press International (UPI) in Boston and the science editor of the international wire service in Washington.
Stein's work has been honored by many organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the Association of Health Care Journalists. He was twice part of NPR teams that won Peabody Awards.
Stein frequently represents NPR, speaking at universities, international meetings and other venues, including the University of Cambridge in Britain, the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea, and the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.
Stein is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He completed a journalism fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health, a program in science and religion at the University of Cambridge, and a summer science writer's workshop at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.
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The Food and Drug Administration expanded authorization of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID vaccine to enable kids ages 5 to 11 who were vaccinated at least five months ago to get a third shot. -
President Biden marks the approaching 1 million death toll from COVID in the U.S. More people have died from COVID-19 than died from AIDS in the US since that pandemic began decades ago.
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President Biden is honoring the loss of at least 1 million deaths from COVID-19 Thursday morning. The ceremony comes as part of an international summit on the pandemic that the White House is hosting.
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The company says a low-dose version of its vaccine triggers an immune response in children ages 6 months to less than 6 years equivalent to what has protected older children and adults.
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Pfizer has asked for authorization for the first booster for children 5 to 11 and Moderna is poised to ask for authorization for the first vaccine for children younger than 5.
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Pfizer and BioNTech are poised to formally ask the Food and Drug Administration to authorize the first COVID booster shot for kids ages 5 to 11.
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CDC has unveiled a new pandemic forecasting center, but officials say there's along way to go to make pandemics as predictable as the weather.
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The pandemic drove U.S. life expectancy down again in 2021 even though life-saving vaccines were widely available.
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Federal health officials are convening with outside advisers April 6 to talk about a vaccine plan, whether that's another booster in the fall, an omicron shot or one that targets more than one strain.
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The Food and Drug Administration has authorize fourth shots for those age 50 and older. The move is aimed at shoring up waning immunity, especially as the U.S. faces the possibility of another surge.
