US reports highest weekly COVID-19 vaccinations since July 4
There were over 7 million shots in the past week, an official said Saturday.
The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
More than 712,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.8 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% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.
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Fauci: Caution still needed this holiday season
Dr. Anthony Fauci is urging caution this holiday season, particularly if people remain unvaccinated.
On ABC News Live’s “The Breakdown” Tuesday, when pressed on mixing unvaccinated kids with adults during Thanksgiving and Christmas, Fauci said it’s safe to be with your "core" family but "not to mix with people who you don't know what their status is."
The CDC is expected to release more detailed guidance on the holidays “soon.”
Fauci said fatalities will likely start falling soon as cases and hospitalizations decreases. However, Fauci, said, "in order to avoid any subsequent surges, it would be very important to get a lot more people vaccinated."
Fauci added that he predicts more vaccine mandates at the local level.
"I don't think you're going to see a total central mandate from the federal government to everyone but you're going to see -- I'll almost guarantee it -- that the local enterprises, local organizations, local universities and colleges are going to continue to expand this whole process of mandating," Fauci said.
-ABC News' Anne Flaherty
More people are getting booster shots than 1st doses
More Americans are now receiving booster shots every day than first doses, according to federal data. About 418,000 Americans receive their third dose on average each day versus nearly 263,000 who get their first dose.
Alaska currently has the country's highest COVID-19 case rate, followed by North Dakota, West Virginia, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, according to federal data.
Hospitalizations are falling. About 70,000 COVID-19 patients are currently in hospitals across the country, a massive drop from late August when there were more than 104,000 patients.
But four states -- Alabama, Georgia, Idaho and Texas -- still have ICU capacities of about 10% or less, according to the data.
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos
Forecasters predict falling cases, hospitalizations, deaths
Forecasts used by the CDC predict falling cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the coming weeks in the U.S.
The COVID-19 Forecast Hub's ensemble forecast predicts 22,686 people in the U.S. will die over the next two weeks. If that happens, it would mark more than 4,400 fewer deaths than in the previous two weeks.
-ABC News' Brian Hartman
Sandra Lindsay, 1st to get vaccine in US, to get booster shot
New York nurse Sandra Lindsay, the first person in the U.S. to get a COVID-19 vaccine outside a clinical trial, plans to get her Pfizer booster dose Wednesday at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York.
Other health care workers who also got their first shots in December are planning to join her in getting boosters on Wednesday.
Anti-vaccine Texas gubernatorial candidate tests positive, 'probably' will be hospitalized
Allen West, a Republican candidate for Texas governor, said Saturday he "probably" will be hospitalized due to COVID-19 pneumonia one day after saying he was suffering "a low grade fever and light body aches" without specifying a positive test for COVID.
He said his blood oxygen levels currently stand at 89 and should be about 95.
"My chest X-rays do show COVID pneumonia, not serious. I am probably going to be admitted to the hospital," the outspoken and controversial politician wrote on Twitter.
West's wife, Angela, did test positive for COVID on Friday, according to the candidate's Twitter account. She had been vaccinated against the virus.
The 60-year-old West, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army and former congressman from Florida, has chosen not to get vaccinated and is instead touting his use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, two drugs the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration say should not be used to treat or prevent the virus.
West is also the former chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. He announced he was running for governor in next year's election, against Republican Greg Abbott, in July.
He suspended all in-person campaign events on Friday after his wife tested positive.