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

About 64.3 million Americans ages 12 and older are completely unvaccinated.

ByJulia Jacobo, Ivan Pereira, Emily Shapiro, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: October 20, 2021, 11:59 AM EDT

More than 731,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.9 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 66.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed. All times Eastern.
Oct 20, 2021, 11:35 AM EDT

Cases on the rise in upper Midwest

Montana and Wyoming are now leading the nation in cases, followed by Idaho, Alaska, North Dakota and West Virginia, according to federal data.

Two states in the upper Midwest are seeing notable upticks in daily infections: Michigan and Minnesota have both seen case averages jump by more than 25% in the last month. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announces measures on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021, to use the Minnesota National Guard to alleviate staffing shortages at health care facilities that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 surge.
Grant Schulte/AP, FILE

An emergency room nurse talks with a patient outside the emergency room as a triage unit is set up outside Beaumont Hospital to manage with rising coronavirus disease cases in Grosse Pointe, Mich., April 16, 2021.
Emily Elconin/Reuters, FILE

Hospital admissions in the U.S. have dropped by about 10.7% in the last week, according to federal data.

However, thousands of Americans are still dying every week. The daily death average -- 1,250 -- is higher than this time one year ago, before any vaccines were available.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos

Oct 20, 2021, 10:16 AM EDT

States can reserve vaccines for 5 to 11-year-olds beginning Wednesday

Beginning Wednesday, states can start reserving vaccines for kids ages 5 to 11, though vaccines won't start shipping yet.

The government has purchased enough shots for all 28 million children ages 5 to 11 in the U.S.

Bridgette Melo, 5, holds the hand of her father, Jim Melo, during her inoculation of one of two reduced doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a trial at Duke University in Durham, N.C., Sept. 28, 2021.
Shawn Rocco/duke University/Shawn Rocco/Duke University via Reuters

On Oct. 26, the FDA advisory committee is expected to have a public discussion and have a non-binding vote on the matter. Within days of that vote, the FDA is expected to authorize the vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11.

On Nov. 2 and Nov. 3, a CDC committee is expected to have a public discussion and non-binding vote.

The CDC director is likely to issue a formal recommendation within hours of the expected Nov. 3 vote. Administration of vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds may begin as soon as the CDC director signs off.

-ABC News' Eric M. Strauss

Oct 20, 2021, 8:23 AM EDT

FDA could authorize Moderna, J&J booster shots Wednesday

The FDA could authorize Moderna and Johnson & Johnson booster shots for some populations as soon as Wednesday. 

A medical staff member prepares a syringe with a vial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a pop up vaccine clinic at the Jewish Community Center in the Staten Island, N.Y., April 16, 2021.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images, FILE

Meanwhile, the CDC independent advisory committee is meeting Wednesday to discuss vaccines in general. The committee is expected to debate Moderna and Johnson & Johnson on Thursday, discussing who boosters should be recommended for and if mixing and matching vaccines should be permitted.

A non-binding vote is expected at the end of Thursday.

The CDC director is expected to make the final recommendations shortly after the vote, which could come as soon as Thursday night or Friday morning.

-ABC News' Eric M. Strauss

Oct 20, 2021, 8:08 AM EDT

NYC to mandate vaccine for municipal workers

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday announced a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all municipal workers.

The mandate is expected to include all employees from sanitation workers to office workers and will require some 161,000 workers to have their first dose by Oct. 29.

Municipal employees who do not get vaccinated will be placed on unpaid leave, and their future employment will be resolved in negotiations with individual labor unions.

Correction officers will face a later deadline of Dec. 1.

-ABC News' Aaron Katersky

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