What We Know about COVID-19 in 2023: Variants, Vaccines, New Therapies & More

Although the virus is still a risk that needs to be managed, it’s encouraging to see less severe outcomes overall compared with the earliest days of the pandemic. “Having more people with impactful functional immunity to any infectious disease is important, whether we call that herd immunity or not,” says Dr. Kim. “But at least in our system right now, the majority of our hospitalizations are still for patients with COVID.”

Ruth Jessen Hickman, MD, is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Medicine. She is a freelance medical and science writer living in Bloomington, Ind.

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