Protests against mandated COVID-19 vaccines pop up across US
Pushback is happening over vaccine requirements and mask mandates.
The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 615,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.2 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 58.4% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC last week, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission -- vaccinated or not -- wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.
Latest headlines:
Texas sees demand for vaccinations skyrocket
In Texas, the demand for vaccines is skyrocketing. The number of daily doses has jumped from about 44,000 (just after the 4th of July) to 73,000 as of Monday, said Chris Van Duesen, spokesperson for the state’s Department of State Health Services.
Data ‘tipping’ to show delta more serious for kids than past variants
National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins told CNN Tuesday the data is "tipping" toward showing how the delta variant is more serious for children than past variants.
Collins listed studies from Singapore, Scotland and Canada that "certainly tilts the balance in that direction" but made clear that more data is needed.
Collins also added that part of the reason the U.S. is seeing more children in hospitals is because they're part of the unvaccinated population and he doesn't want to "overstate the confidence."
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
NYC to require proof of vaccination to eat inside
New York City will soon require vaccinations for workers and customers for indoor dining, indoor fitness facilities and indoor entertainment facilities, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
This mandate will be enforced as of Sept. 13.
US ships more than 100 million vaccine doses abroad
The Biden administration has hit a vaccine-sharing milestone, shipping more than 110 doses to over 60 countries around the world, mostly through COVAX, the World Health Organization's vaccine-sharing initiative. The U.S. has shared more doses than every other country combined, according to United Nations data.
Starting at the end of August, the U.S. will begin shipping another batch of 500 million doses of Pfizer to 100 low-income countries across the globe. Two-hundred million of those 500 million doses are expected to be shipped in 2021.
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky
Delta 'sweeping over Mississippi like a tsunami': Official
Mississippi is facing "a phenomenal increase in daily reported cases of COVID, and this is entirely attributable to the delta variant, which is sweeping over Mississippi like a tsunami," state health officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Thursday.
Dobbs said 97% of new cases are among the unvaccinated, and that 89% of hospitalizations and 85% of deaths are unvaccinated.
Dobbs pleaded with the public to get vaccinated, stressing that the unvaccinated population is driving the current surge, but that vulnerable, vaccinated people are suffering the fallout.
"There is going to be some collateral damage, unfortunately, even folks who've done everything they can to protect themselves," Dobbs said.
"The minority of folks who are vaccinated and hospitalized are overrepresented by the older and those with weaker immune system, so we're seeing a pretty dramatic spillover effect from the transmission in the community to more vulnerable parts of our population," he said.
-ABC News' Soorin Kim