Health Highlights: Jan. 5, 2022

Biden urges calm in face of Omicron surge. In a speech Tuesday, the President emphasized that vaccines and new treatments have made Americans much less vulnerable to the new variant. He also announced that his administration is doubling its order of Pfizer's new antiviral pill, which was recently authorized by the FDA. Read more

A hidden danger from benign tumors. As many as 1 in 10 people have a benign tumor on one or both of their adrenal glands that could cause the gland to produce excess amounts of the stress hormone cortisol. Now, research finds that up to half of people with these tumors are secreting enough cortisol to raise their risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. Read more

Key immune system player mounts fight against Omicron. While the fast-spreading variant appears wily enough to evade people's antibodies, researchers believe that it has a much harder time slipping past a person's immune system T-cells. Read more