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 National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and the CDC are urging people to get flu shots. Both groups say the flu is likely to come back after a two-year hiatus, and it could be a bad year.
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Some flu experts are urging many people to get their shots earlier than usual this year because of the potential for an early, possibly severe flu season. But what's the best timing for you? -
Pfzier-BioNTech and Moderna are asking the Food and Drug Administration to authorize the new omicron boosters for young children.
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After virtually disappearing for the last two years, there are troubling clues that the flu could come roaring back this year, to cause trouble alongside COVID. -
Biden's comments — made as officials try to convince Americans to get a new booster shot and the White House seeks $22 billion in new COVID funding — were "unfortunate," several epidemiologists said. -
President Biden says the pandemic "is over," but public health experts, epidemiologists, infectious disease researchers and others strongly disagree, saying his remarks endanger efforts to save lives.
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How has the rollout of the new COVID-19 vaccine boosters gone so far? Shots are plentiful, waits are short, but demand is uncertain.
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It's a strange moment in the pandemic. For most vaccinated people, the risk of severe illness has gone way down. But hundreds are dying of COVID-19 every day. So how dangerous is the virus now?
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They argue the threat posed by COVID has lessened because of preexisting immunity and access to treatment. Plus, some deaths may be incorrectly blamed on COVID. Others caution it's too soon to tell. -
The COVID-19 vaccine strategy may be shifting toward Americans getting yearly vaccinations, like many do with annual flu shots.
