COVID-19 updates: Pfizer vaccine highly effective in children 5-11
About 64.3 million Americans ages 12 and older are completely unvaccinated.
More than 731,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.9 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 66.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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'National emergency' declared on children's mental health
A national state of emergency for children's mental health has been declared by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a serious toll on children's mental health as young people continue to face physical isolation, ongoing uncertainty, fear and grief," the groups said in a statement Tuesday. "Even before the pandemic, mental health challenges facing children were of great concern, and COVID-19 has only exacerbated them."
Mental health ER visits jumped 24% for kids ages 5 to 11 between March and October 2020, the groups said. Mental health ER visits skyrocketed 31% for kids ages 12 to 17.
From early 2019 to early 2021, there was a more than 50% jump in ER visits for suspected suicide attempts for girls ages 12 to 17, they said.
More than 140,000 kids in the U.S. have lost a primary or secondary caregiver during the pandemic, the organizations added.
-ABC News' Anne Flaherty
FDA may allow mixed boosters: Source
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering allowing Americans to receive a booster shots from a different brand than their original shots, a source familiar with the agency’s planning told ABC News Monday.
The New York Times first reported the proposal Monday evening.
The FDA is moving toward recommending people get boosters that match their original doses -- from the Pfizer or Moderna or Johnson & Johnson -- but the agency may also allow health care providers to give certain patients boosters that do not match their initial doses, the source said.
An advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is slated to discuss boosters this week and could issue recommendations for boosters by the end of the week.
-ABC News' Eric Strauss
New Mexico enacts crisis of standard care
New Mexico's growing coronavirus hospitalization has forced the state to enact a crisis of standard care, the state's health department announced Monday.
"In particular, the volume of COVID-19 patients - almost all of whom are unvaccinated - have exacerbated existing staffing and other resource shortages," the health department said in a news release.
Medical facilities statewide must now use a "more standardized and equitable procedure," before deciding who gets care and temporarily suspend procedures that are not medically necessary, according to the health department.
More details on the crisis of standard care will be revealed later this week, the health department said.
-ABC News' Jennifer Watts
99% of Seattle public employees complied with city's vaccine mandate
Just hours before the midnight deadline for its public employee vaccine mandate, the city of Seattle revealed Monday that 99% of its 11,000 employees have complied with the order.
Approximately 150 public employees had yet to submit documents showing their vaccination status as of Monday evening, according to city officials. About 5% of public employees were granted exemption, the city said.
When it came to specific departments, the city said 91% of Seattle Police Department employees were vaccinated and 7% received exemptions. As of Monday evening, 24 Seattle PD employees (2% of the department) did not submit vaccination documents to the city, according to officials.
The Seattle Fire Department reported 93% of its employees complied with the vaccine mandate and 6% received exemptions, the city said. As of Monday evening, 16 Seattle Fire employees (1% of the department) did not submit their vaccination documents, according to city officials.
-ABC News' Matthew Fuhrman
FDA authorizes booster shots for Moderna, J&J vaccines
The FDA authorized booster shots for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines for some populations Wednesday.
Moderna's vaccine can be administered at least six months after the second dose for people ages 65 and up and those ages 18 through 64 who either are at high risk of severe COVID-19 infection or have occupational exposure to the virus, the FDA said.
The J&J booster can be administered at least two months after the single-dose shot to those ages 18 and up, the agency said.
The FDA, which authorized Pfizer's booster dose last month, also said it will allow people to mix booster doses.
-ABC News' Anne Flaherty and Eric Strauss