The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 655,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.6 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 62.7% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Sep 09, 2021, 11:23 AM EDT
No plans for vaccine mandate in NYC schools, mayor says
New York City has no plans for a vaccine mandate in schools, with the city instead focusing on getting students physically back into classrooms Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Principal Alice Hom talks with teachers in a classroom at Yung Wing School on Sept. 2, 2021 in New York City. All NYC public school students will return to in-person classes this month for the 2021-2022 school year, except for when COVID-positive kids must quarantine at home.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
But New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration is refusing to rule out mandatory vaccination of eligible teens, Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin said.
Just 50% of New York state children between the ages of 12 and 17 are fully vaccinated, compared to 73% of adults, according to the governor's office.
This comes as the Los Angeles Board of Education gears up for a Thursday afternoon meeting where they're expected to enact a vaccine mandate for students.
A source familiar with the president's plans told ABC News that Biden will announce an executive order that will "require all federal executive branch workers to be vaccinated," as well as a second executive order that will direct that standard to be applied to employees of contractors working with the federal government.
A White House official said Biden's plan will be centered around:
Vaccinating the Unvaccinated
Furthering Protection for the Vaccinated
Keeping Schools Safely Open
Increasing Testing and Requiring Masking
Protecting Our Economic Recovery
Improving Care for Those with COVID-19
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told MSNBC Thursday, "He wants to lay out the steps we're taking to build on what we did over the summer: more requirements for federal workers, for private sector employees as well. More testing to ensure we know who has COVID and who might spread it. Making sure small businesses survive. That's what you'll hear the president talk about today."
-ABC News' Molly Nagle
Sep 09, 2021, 9:01 AM EDT
UK approves AstraZeneca, Pfizer boosters as 'safe and effective'
The United Kingdom’s medicines regulator has declared both the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine as “safe and effective” booster doses.
Dr. June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said in a statement, "It will now be for the JVCI [Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation] to advise on whether booster jabs will be given and if so, which vaccines should be used."
-ABC News' Guy Davies
Sep 09, 2021, 12:20 AM EDT
LA schools to vote on vaccine mandate for students
The Los Angeles Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Thursday where they're expected to enact a vaccine mandate for students.
In a meeting with members, the board will propose a resolution that would require all local students at LAUSD school facilities who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to become vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination in order to return to the classroom.
Mobile vaccination teams begin visiting every Los Angeles Unified middle and high school campus to deliver first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccines as students return to in-person classes in Los Angeles, Aug. 30, 2021.
Mike Blake/Reuters, FILE
The school district -- the second largest in the country, with almost 600,000 students -- has recently welcomed some students back to in-person classes by following strict COVID-19 safety measures, such as constant testing, masking, sanitizing, screening and social distancing.
Schools in the area have also required all staff to be fully vaccinated.
Still, the board said in a statement Wednesday, "COVID-19 remains a material threat to the health and safety of all students within the LAUSD community, and is a further threat to continuous in-person instruction," which is why they are hoping to mandate vaccination among students.
If the resolution is passes, all LA students who are 12 years of age or older, and are part of in-person extracurricular programs, must receive their first vaccine dose by no later than Oct. 3, and their second dose by no later than Oct. 31. Those 12 and older not participating in in-person programs must be vaccinated by November, and "all other students must receive their first vaccine dose by no later than 30 days after their 12th birthday, and their second dose by no later than 8 weeks after their 12th birthday," the board's statement reads.
