COVID-19 updates: Pfizer vaccine highly effective in children 5-11

A national state of emergency for children's mental health has been declared by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a serious toll on children's mental health as young people continue to face physical isolation, ongoing uncertainty, fear and grief," the groups said in a statement Tuesday. "Even before the pandemic, mental health challenges facing children were of great concern, and COVID-19 has only exacerbated them."

Mental health ER visits jumped 24% for kids ages 5 to 11 between March and October 2020, the groups said. Mental health ER visits skyrocketed 31% for kids ages 12 to 17.

From early 2019 to early 2021, there was a more than 50% jump in ER visits for suspected suicide attempts for girls ages 12 to 17, they said.

More than 140,000 kids in the U.S. have lost a primary or secondary caregiver during the pandemic, the organizations added. 

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering allowing Americans to receive a booster shots from a different brand than their original shots, a source familiar with the agency’s planning told ABC News Monday.

The New York Times first reported the proposal Monday evening.

The FDA is moving toward recommending people get boosters that match their original doses -- from the Pfizer or Moderna or Johnson & Johnson -- but the agency may also allow health care providers to give certain patients boosters that do not match their initial doses, the source said.

An advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is slated to discuss boosters this week and could issue recommendations for boosters by the end of the week.

-ABC News' Eric Strauss

New Mexico's growing coronavirus hospitalization has forced the state to enact a crisis of standard care, the state's health department announced Monday.

"In particular, the volume of COVID-19 patients - almost all of whom are unvaccinated - have exacerbated existing staffing and other resource shortages," the health department said in a news release.

Medical facilities statewide must now use a "more standardized and equitable procedure," before deciding who gets care and temporarily suspend procedures that are not medically necessary, according to the health department.

More details on the crisis of standard care will be revealed later this week, the health department said.

-ABC News' Jennifer Watts

Just hours before the midnight deadline for its public employee vaccine mandate, the city of Seattle revealed Monday that 99% of its 11,000 employees have complied with the order.

Approximately 150 public employees had yet to submit documents showing their vaccination status as of Monday evening, according to city officials. About 5% of public employees were granted exemption, the city said.

When it came to specific departments, the city said 91% of Seattle Police Department employees were vaccinated and 7% received exemptions. As of Monday evening, 24 Seattle PD employees (2% of the department) did not submit vaccination documents to the city, according to officials.

The Seattle Fire Department reported 93% of its employees complied with the vaccine mandate and 6% received exemptions, the city said. As of Monday evening, 16 Seattle Fire employees (1% of the department) did not submit their vaccination documents, according to city officials.

-ABC News' Matthew Fuhrman