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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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.
Extremists likely to target health care sector as vaccine mandates spread
The Department of Homeland Security this week issued an intel notice warning that extremists, including white supremacists and other would-be domestic terrorists, are likely to “threaten violence or plot against healthcare personnel, facilities, and public officials in response to renewed and expanding COVID-19 mitigation measures.”
The document, distributed Monday to U.S. law enforcement and government agencies and obtained by ABC News, noted that anti-vaccine messaging will likely increase as vaccine mandates spread.
The notice warns that some of the misinformation and disinformation now circulating is being pushed and promoted by Russia, China and Iran as a means of sowing anger and discord in the U.S.
-ABC News' Josh Margolin
76% of 12+ population has at least 1 vaccine dose
Seventy-six percent of Americans ages 12 and above have had at least one vaccine dose, White House COVID-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar said Tuesday.
Now 65% of the total U.S. population has had at least one dose, he said.
Florida to sanction 8 school districts for mask mandates
The Florida Board of Education has authorized the state's education commissioner to sanction the board members of eight school districts that have continued to require masks for students in defiance of state rules.
In the latest development in the state's battle over mask mandates, board members in Florida's largest districts -- Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward -- as well as Alachua, Brevard, Duval, Leon and Orange will have their salaries withheld following Thursday's vote, officials said.
"For nearly two months now, these school districts have barred from the school house doors thousands of children, many of whom have significant disabilities or health-related reasons that prevent them from learning with a face mask on," Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran said in a statement.
Corcoran also slammed the Broward and Alachua districts, which were previously sanctioned in August and September, for accepting funds from the Biden administration to make up for lost paychecks, calling it "political bailouts from federal co-conspirators."
-ABC News' Will McDuffie