Science - USA (2021-12-24)

science.org SCIENCE

PHOTO: PATRICK SEMANSKY/AP PHOTO

NEWS

IN BRIEF

Edited byJeffrey Brainard

A

ny look at the immediate future of science must

s tar t with the pandemic coronavirus. A s the world

enters the third year of COVID-19, researchers

are striving for a handle on what the latest vari-

ant of concern, Omicron, may mean for the pan-

demic’s trajectory (see p. 1543). Given the sheer

number of infections globally, further variants are likely

to arise in 2022. Because a large part of the global popu-

lation now has some level of immunity from vaccines

or infection, scientists are bracing for variants much

better at evading human immune responses. Whether

vaccines must be adapted is still unclear (see p. 1544).

At the same time, scientists are developing a new gen-

eration of vaccines that may give broader immunity or

elicit a stronger response in the mucosae of the respira-

tory tract. In 2022, the world could also begin to see

the impact of oral antiviral drugs targeting SARS-CoV-2,

which could reduce stress on health systems by reduc-

ing deaths and the number of people who need hospi-

talization. Researchers will look to crack the mysteries

of Long Covid, in which people experience debilitating

symptoms weeks or months after their infection clears.

And as global vaccine supplies increase, a key question

will be whether poor countries can play catchup and

get large swaths of their populations immunized (see

p. 1546). In the rest of this section, Science’s news staff

forecasts other areas of research and policy likely to

make headlines in the coming year.

AREAS TO WATCH: WHAT’S COMING UP IN 2022

COVID-19 looms large over the next year in science

More than 660,000 white flags were placed in a temporary art

installation on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in September

to commemorate Americans who died of COVID-19.

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