Nearly 600 patients wait for hospital beds in Houston as city sees surge in COVID cases
According to the CDC, 46% of Texans have been fully vaccinated.
The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 620,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.3 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 59.1% 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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Chicago requires school employees to be vaccinated
Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third-largest school district, is requiring all employees to be vaccinated.
Seventy-eight percent of district employees were already fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated or had a vaccination scheduled as of June, the district said.
"For the social and emotional well-being of our young people, they need to be in school, and the vaccine adds another layer of protection to our plan to safely re-open schools," the city's department of public health commissioner, Allison Arwady, said in a statement.
Chicago's school year starts on Aug. 30.
-ABC News' Whitney Lloyd
Former acting CDC head talks next steps for booster shots
Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC, told "Good Morning America" that he expects booster shots will "be available to people with immune disorders very quickly."
The FDA announced late Thursday that immunocompromised Americans – such as cancer patients, transplant recipients, people with HIV and people on immunosuppressant drugs -- will be able to get a third shot of Pfizer or Moderna.
But Besser stressed, "I think about this less as a booster shot" and more of "a recognition that for certain people with immune problems, two doses wasn’t enough" and "the third dose is necessary for them to get the same high level of protection that the rest of people do."
The CDC panel is expected to vote to recommend the third dose when it meets Friday at 11 a.m. and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky will likely sign off after a Friday afternoon vote.
Alabama children's hospital sees rise in patients
Children's of Alabama reported a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 positive patients being treated at the hospital in recent weeks.
As of Thursday, the hospital said it is treating 22 COVID-19 positive patients, five of whom are on ventilators.
The hospital said in January, at the height of the last surge, their highest number of patients was 13.
"There are three proven ways to slow the spread of this highly transmissible strain of the virus: Vaccination for everyone 12 and up, masking, especially when indoors, and social distancing," the hospital wrote in a Facebook statement.
FDA authorizes booster shot for immunocompromised
Immunocompromised Americans will be able to get a third shot of either of the mRNA vaccines, Pfizer or Moderna, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced late Thursday.
The booster will be targeted specifically for people who did not have an ideal immune response to their initial vaccines, which has proven to be the case for many cancer patients, transplant recipients, people with HIV and people on immunosuppressant drugs.
"The country has entered yet another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the FDA is especially cognizant that immunocompromised people are particularly at risk for severe disease," acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement. "After a thorough review of the available data, the FDA determined that this small, vulnerable group may benefit from a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna Vaccines."
For more, read ABC News' full story on the authorization.
-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett