COVID-19 updates: 345 children currently hospitalized with coronavirus in Texas
That number was up from 282 on Thursday.
The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 643,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.5 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 61.7% 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.
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Booster shots start in France
Booster shots are beginning in France on Wednesday.
Eligible recipients include people over the age of 65 and people with underlying health conditions. They must be at least six months out
from their second Pfizer or Moderna shot.
Those who received the single-dose J&J vaccine are also eligible to receive an mRNA booster if at least four weeks have passed since they were vaccinated.
As of Tuesday, 65.6% of France's total population was fully vaccinated.
-ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud
Pfizer studying new pill in hopes it'll help with mild COVID symptoms
Pfizer is launching a large clinical study for a new pill that it hopes could prevent worse symptoms for patients with mild COVID-19.
The first participant has now been dosed in this "pivotal Phase 2/3 clinical trial," Pfizer said.
Drugs like Remdesivir and Dexamethasone can help people recover faster, but those are only reserved for people who are extremely ill and in the hospital.
If proven effective, Pfizer will ask the FDA for authorization.
-ABC News' Sony Salzman
Virginia Tech disenrolls 134 students who didn't meet vaccination policy
Virginia Tech says 134 students have been disenrolled after they didn't comply with COVID-19 vaccine requirements.
The university's roughly 37,000 students were required to submit vaccination documentation or receive a medical or religious exemption, Virginia Tech said.
"The university does not know whether any of these [134] students were not planning to return for reasons unrelated to the COVID-19 vaccine requirement," Virginia Tech said.
-ABC News' Chad Murray
TSA screens lowest number of travelers since May
Just 1,345,064 travelers were screened at U.S. airports on Tuesday, the lowest since May 18 when 1,408,017 were screened, the TSA said.
United CEO Scott Kirby said Monday he thinks holiday travel will return to normal.
-ABC News' Sam Sweeney
Risk of developing myocarditis higher for unvaccinated, CDC says
The benefits of getting a COVID-19 vaccine outweigh the risk of getting myocarditis from the vaccine, CDC experts say, adding that it's even more apparent now that cases are spiking among young people.
The risk of getting myocarditis - inflammation from the heart muscle – from the virus is much higher than getting it from a vaccine, scientists said at a CDC advisory panel Monday, pointing to new data.
The CDC estimates that the risk of myocarditis for the highest risk group -- young males age 16 to 17 -- is about 73 cases per million doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
The public health agency also estimates that 56,700 cases of COVID-19 would be prevented in that same age group for every million vaccines.
In addition, the risk of myocarditis after actually getting COVID-19 is six to 34 times higher than it is from getting a vaccine.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett