Chicago teachers voted Wednesday to accept the deal made by the union and city to re start in-person classes.

The deal ended the five-day standoff after the union voted to switch to remote learning due to the omicron surge.

Union leaders made a tentative agreement on Monday and urged teachers to back the deal despite frustration that the district wouldn't grant demands for widespread coronavirus testing or commit to districtwide remote learning during a COVID-19 surge.

The final agreement will expand COVID-19 testing and create standards to switch schools to remote learning.

The deal also resulted in the purchase of KN95 masks for students and teachers and bigger incentives to attract substitute teachers. The city also agreed to give teachers unpaid leave related to the pandemic.

The U.S. Army released an update on the vaccine status of its members.

As of Jan. 11, 96% of members are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 97% have at least one dose, according to the Army.

All armed service members are mandated to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Around 18,000 members remain unvaccinated, the data showed.

The Army has chosen not to discharge unvaccinated soldiers but instead "flag" them so they’re not promoted and are not allowed to re-enlist.

"To date, Army commanders have relieved a total of six active-duty leaders, including two battalion commanders, and issued 2,994 general officer written reprimands to soldiers for refusing the vaccination order," the Army said in a news release.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

The U.S. government has purchased an additional 500,000 doses of Evusheld, AstraZeneca's monoclonal antibody drug, to be given before exposure to COVID-19, the company announced. This is on top of the 700,000 Evusheld doses already purchased.

White House officials previously said over 500,000 doses would be stockpiled in January and "significantly more" would be purchased by March."

Evusheld was authorized in December 2021 and is the first monoclonal therapy meant to be used in advance of an eligible person's exposure to COVID-19.

However, it's not meant for a wide group of people: this therapy is only authorized for immunocompromised people who may not have developed an optimal immune response to their vaccine. This therapy is also for people with a history of severe adverse reactions to a COVID-19 vaccine and thus aren't recommended to get vaccinated.

Evusheld is not authorized as a way to treat COVID-19 after testing positive.

-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik

More than 15 million new COVID-19 cases were reported globally last week, according to the World Health Organization.

"By far the most cases reported in a single week, and we know this is an underestimate," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.

He said this "huge spike" is driven by omicron.

"While omicron causes less severe disease than delta, it remains a dangerous virus, particularly for those who are unvaccinated," Tedros warned.

WHO officials said new vaccines may be needed for different variants, and until those vaccines are developed, the current vaccines may need to be updated.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

Uganda reopened its schools to students on Monday after nearly two years, ending the world's longest school closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Schools across the East African nation of 44 million people have been fully or partially closed since March 2020, when the pandemic began. The closures affected more than 10 million learners, according to data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Save the Children welcomed the reopening of Uganda's schools but warned that "lost learning may lead to high dropout rates in the coming weeks without urgent action."

The London-based charity revealed in a report last November that up to one in five children in low-income countries, including Uganda, had dropped out of school due to rising poverty, child marriage and child labor, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic. In a statement Monday, Save the Children warned of "a 'second wave' of dropouts as returning students who have fallen behind in their learning fear they have no chance of catching up."

To tackle the potential crisis in Uganda, Save the Children has launched "Catch-up Clubs," which assess children and teaches them at the required level to help them regain literacy and other learning, with child protection support and cash assistance for families struggling to send them to school.

"As schools begin to reopen across the country, it is critical that all girls and boys have access to the support they need to successfully return to the classroom," Edison Nsubuga, head of education at Save the Children in Uganda, said in a statement Monday. "Many children have fallen behind in school as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Children who are behind in their learning are less likely to unlock their potential as adults. However, when children receive the learning boost they need and have access to quality education, they can reach their full potential."