COVID-19 updates: White House press secretary Jen Psaki tests positive

The past week marked the seventh consecutive week that the United States has seen a drop in pediatric COVID-19 infections since the pandemic peak of nearly 252,000 cases in early September.

Last week, the U.S. reported approximately 118,000 new COVID-19 cases among children, compared to 131,000 cases the previous week, according to a weekly joint report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA).

But even with the decline, children still accounted for about a quarter of reported weekly COVID-19 cases. People under the age 18 make up roughly 22% of the U.S. population. Regionally, the Midwest continues to see the highest number of pediatric COVID-19 cases as the area experiences the beginnings of a viral resurgence.

The AAP and CHA wrote in the report that the case rate remains an "extremely high number" of newly diagnosed children, with over 1 million cases added over the past six weeks.

Since the onset of the pandemic, nearly 6.3 million children across the nation have tested positive for COVID-19.

In a similar trend, the rate of pediatric hospital admissions per 100,000 people also continues to decline, alongside other age groups. In the last month, the pediatric hospital admission rate fell by more 43.5%.

Currently, severe illness due to COVID-19 remains "uncommon" among children, the two organizations wrote in the report. According to the nearly two dozen states that reported COVID-19 hospitalizations among children, 0.1% to 2% of all pediatric COVID-19 infections resulted in hospitalization. ​Similarly, in states that reported virus-related deaths by age, 0% to 0.3% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death.

However, AAP and CHA warned in the report that there's an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic on children, "including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects."

Less than 45% of adolescents ages 12 to 17 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to federal data, and more than 48 million children under 12 remain unvaccinated. But that could soon change, should the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention green light COVID-19 vaccinations for kids ages 5 to 11 in the coming weeks.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Moderna announced Tuesday that it will make up to 110 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine available to African nations at the company's "lowest tiered price."

The Massachusetts-based biotechnology firm said it is prepared to deliver the first 15 million doses by the end of this year, with 35 million doses in the first quarter of 2022 and up to 60 million doses in the second quarter.

"All doses are offered at Moderna’s lowest tiered price," the company said in a press release Tuesday.

Africa, the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, remains the least-vaccinated region of the world against COVID-19, with just over 5% of its 1.3 billion people fully inoculated.

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said the new agreement with the African Union, a continental bloc consisting of the 55 member states that make up the countries of Africa, was facilitated in part by the White House. The deal is separate from the company's agreement with the global vaccine-sharing initiative COVAX to supply up to 500 million doses from late this year through 2022, according to the press release.

"This is the first step in our long-term partnership with the African Union," Bancel said in a statement Tuesday. "We believe our vaccine can play an important role in addressing the needs of low-income countries given its combination of high Phase 3 efficacy against COVID-19, strong durability in the real-world evidence, and superior storage and handling conditions. We recognize that access to COVID-19 vaccines continues to be a challenge in many parts of the world and we remain committed to helping to protect as many people as possible around the globe."

Moderna is also working on plans to allow it to fill doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in Africa as early as 2023, in parallel to building an mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility on the continent with the goal of producing up to 500 million doses each year, according to the press release.

Two South Florida school districts may be changing their polices on mask mandates in schools as COVID-19 cases decline.

A Broward County Public Schools spokesperson told ABC affiliate WPLG that an item could be added at a school board meeting Tuesday "regarding district’s COVID-19 protocols including the use of face coverings.”

The district had said it would revisit the mask mandate when the COVID-19 positivity rate reached 3% or lower for 10 consecutive days. Broward County has reached that threshold, the county's health department data shows.

Miami-Dade County Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho also indicated there may be a change to its mask mandate policy.

The school board is looking at several metrics including hospital admissions, community transmission and daily student cases. Carvalho said Friday would be a benchmark day.

Carvalho said last week that a new plan could entail "a mandatory mask policy but with an unrestricted, unrestricted, parent opt-out provision."

The European Medicines Agency on Monday approved the Moderna booster (which is a half dose of the initial booster) for people 18 and older.

The booster "given 6 to 8 months after the second dose led to a rise in antibody levels in adults whose antibody levels were waning," the EMA said.  

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou