COVID-19 updates: Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico leading nation in cases
Michigan has the highest infection rate, followed by Minnesota and New Mexico.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.1 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 771,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 69% 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.
Latest headlines:
Fauci hopeful vaccine could be available for kids under 5 next year
Dr. Anthony Fauci says he's hopeful a COVID-19 vaccine could be available for children under 5 next year, but studies can't be rushed, making an exact timeline uncertain.
"Hopefully within a reasonably short period of time, likely the beginning of next year in 2022, in the first quarter of 2022, it will be available to them," Fauci told Insider, adding, "Can't guarantee it, you've got to do the clinical trial."
Pfizer's pediatric vaccine trials are already underway. The company estimates it could have early results for young children ages 2-4 by the end of the year, meaning authorization is possible sometime next year. Moderna is further behind, but also has ongoing trials in children as young as six months.
Clinical trials don't always unfold on a predictable timeline, and experts emphasize studies in young children won't be rushed.
-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett, Sony Salzman
FDA authorizes Moderna and Pfizer boosters for all adults
The FDA on Friday said it has authorized Pfizer and Moderna boosters for all adults, six months after the second shot.
“With boosters, more adults will now have the opportunity to help preserve a high-level of protection against this disease," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement.
“This emergency use authorization comes at a critical time as we enter the winter months and face increasing COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations across the country,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement.
As for next steps, the CDC's independent advisory committee is meeting Friday afternoon to discuss boosters for all.
CDC director Rochelle Walensky will issue CDC recommendations, which is the last step in the regulatory process.-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett
Austria to enter full lockdown, make vaccination mandatory
Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg announced Friday that the country will go into a full nationwide lockdown to curb a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections.
"We do not want a fifth wave," Schallenberg warned.
The lockdown will begin Monday and last for at least 10 days before the situation is reassessed. If the number of new COVID-19 cases has not dropped significantly, the lockdown can be extended to a maximum of 20 days.
Under the restrictions, people will be told to work from home, non-essential shops will close and public gatherings will be canceled. Schools will remain open for students who require in-person learning, but parents have been asked to keep their children at home if possible.
COVID-19 vaccination will also become mandatory by law in Austria, starting on Feb. 1.
It's the first country in Europe to make COVID-19 vaccines compulsory and the first to reimpose a full lockdown this winter, as the continent grapples with rising infections.
The Austrian government had initially imposed a nationwide lockdown only for the unvaccinated that began last Monday.
Masks cut COVID-19 incidence by 53%, new analysis finds
Mask-wearing cuts COVID-19 incidence by 53%, according to a new analysis that pooled results from multiple studies.
The analysis, published Thursday in the medical journal The BMJ, found that mask-wearing, social distancing and hand-washing were all effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19.
The bulk of the studies included in the analysis were conducted before mass vaccinations. The researchers, who were from several universities in Australia, Scotland and China, said that more studies are needed to understand the effectiveness of these public health measures in the context of widespread vaccination coverage.
-ABC News' Guy Davies, Esra Demirel and Sony Salzman
Consider rapid testing before Thanksgiving, experts say
Former Baltimore health commissioner Dr. Leana Wen said in an interview Monday hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center that her family is rapid-testing on Thanksgiving because they're gathering indoors with multiple families and have young, unvaccinated children.
She said it was reasonable for families with immunocompromised members to continue to take precautions, like rapid test and gather outdoors.
"A family in which everybody is generally healthy and fully vaccinated might take very different types of risks than a family with unvaccinated young kids or elderly, immunocompromised family members," she said.
Dr. Jerome Adams, former Surgeon General under President Donald Trump, said to make sure all relatives are vaccinated and that no one has cold symptoms.
"Even if you're vaccinated, if you're coughing, if you're sneezing, if you've got symptoms, you still could be spreading the virus," he said.
Looking to the future, Dr. Anthony Fauci said, "If we can get most of the people who are eligible to be boosted, boostered, we can go a long way to make in 2022 much more of a normal year than what we've seen in 2021."
-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett