News Health & Medicine

Why a norovirus vaccine isn’t available — yet

Clinical trials are ongoing, but the virus has been tricky to figure out

Illustration of norovirus particles. They look like tennis balls with an uneven surface.

Norovirus is highly infectious and leads to vomiting, diarrhea and nausea. The virus (illustrated) appears to be hitting the United States especially hard this winter.

Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library/Getty Images Plus

By Aimee Cunningham

Norovirus has been top of mind for many this winter: Everybody seems to know somebody that’s been temporarily felled by the winter vomiting bug.

The anecdotal sense that norovirus is everywhere has been born out in some data so far.