The error should only happen with esModuleInterop: true. Maybe VSCode is ignoring your tsconfig.json or another one with esModuleInterop: true is used.
For a definitive fix set the compiler option esModuleInterop to true and use import express instead of import * as express.
The problem :
The ES6 specification defines the notion of “namespace object”. A namespace object is namespaceObject in this statement : import * as namespaceObject from 'a-module'. The typeof this object is object, you are not supposed to be able to call it.
You were using import * as express until now because express is a CommonJS module, for Node.js, it is exported using module.exports. However it is illegal in the ES6 spec, and TypeScript now warns you.
The solution :
Setting esModuleInterop to true will make TypeScript wrap your import calls to check if the module is an ES6 module or a CommonJS. If it’s a CommonJS module and you are using import default from 'module' TypeScript will find out and return the correct CommonJS module.
From the TypeScript release note :
Note: The new behavior is added under a flag to avoid unwarranted
breaks to existing code bases. We highly recommend applying it both to
new and existing projects. For existing projects, namespace imports
(import * as express from “express”; express();) will need to be
converted to default imports (import express from “express”;
express();).