Joe Palca
Joe Palca is a science correspondent for NPR. Since joining NPR in 1992, Palca has covered a range of science topics — everything from biomedical research to astronomy. He is currently focused on the eponymous series, "Joe's Big Idea." Stories in the series explore the minds and motivations of scientists and inventors. Palca is also the founder of NPR Scicommers – A science communication collective.
Palca began his journalism career in television in 1982, working as a health producer for the CBS affiliate in Washington, DC. In 1986, he left television for a seven-year stint as a print journalist, first as the Washington news editor for Nature, and then as a senior correspondent for Science Magazine.
In October 2009, Palca took a six-month leave from NPR to become science writer in residence at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Palca has won numerous awards, including the National Academies Communications Award, the Science-in-Society Award of the National Association of Science Writers, the American Chemical Society's James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, the American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Prize, and the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Writing. In 2019, Palca was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievement in journalism.
With Flora Lichtman, Palca is the co-author of Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us (Wiley, 2011).
He comes to journalism from a science background, having received a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, where he worked on human sleep physiology.
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A COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 12 is not yet available, but research is well underway and the first shot for some kids in this age group is expected in the fall, doctors say. -
Researchers are trying to come up with tests that can be performed using a blood sample that will determine not only whether a COVID-19 vaccine will work but also for how long. -
The three vaccines available in the U.S. are safe and effective, but not ideal. Now, work is underway to create more convenient and potent vaccines, including a tablet and nasal spray. -
AstraZeneca was chastised by a committee charged with reviewing its COVID-19 vaccine study results. AstraZeneca claimed a vaccine efficacy of 79%, but the committee said that was using outdated data.
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A U.S. trial of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine may have used outdated information. A statement by the National Institutes of Health says an incomplete view of efficacy data may have been provided.
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AstraZeneca says a study of its vaccine showed an efficacy of 79% for preventing symptomatic disease. The study may meet FDA requirements for considering the vaccine for emergency-use authorization.
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Denmark has temporarily suspended giving people the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in order to investigate whether some potentially serious medical conditions are related to the vaccine.
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Exposing people to a potentially fatal disease could hasten understanding of COVID-19 and development of new vaccines and treatments. But the risks of such studies raise serious ethical questions. -
The committee voted 22 to nothing in favor of the new vaccine.
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An advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration met to consider the application for emergency use authorization for the Janssen, the vaccine division of Johnson & Johnson, COVID-19 vaccine.
