Introduction

• Globally, there have been more than 203.7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 4.3 million associated deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
• The United States has reported more than 35.9 million confirmed cases and more than 617,000 associated deaths.
• Currently, more than 195.2 million people in the United States have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with more than 166.6 million people fully vaccinated. Merits
• More than 4.3 million people globally have died from COVID-19.
• More than half of U.S. adults are now fully vaccinated.
• New COVID-19 cases are on the rise in virtually every U.S. state. Children under 12 at high risk for developing COVID-19
• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the COVID-19 case rate had skyrocketed to levels last seen before current vaccines were available. There are also new data showing that the Delta variant is more infectious and leads to increased transmissibility compared with other variants — even in vaccinated individuals.
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  Fact Checked

  COVID-19 Updates: Children Under 12 Increasingly at Risk for COVID-19

  • More than 4.3 million people globally have died from COVID-19.
  • More than half of U.S. adults are now fully vaccinated.
  • New COVID-19 cases are on the rise in virtually every U.S. state.

   

   

  Update on COVID-19 numbers

  • Globally, there have been more than 203.7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 4.3 million associated deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
  • The United States has reported more than 35.9 million confirmed cases and more than 617,000 associated deaths.
  • Currently, more than 195.2 million people in the United States have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with more than 166.6 million people fully vaccinated.

  Healthline updates this page on weekdays. For up-to-date information about the virus, go here.

   

   Children under 12 at high risk for developing COVID-19

  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the COVID-19 case rate had skyrocketed to levels last seen before current vaccines were available. There are also new data showing that the Delta variant is more infectious and leads to increased transmissibility compared with other variants — even in vaccinated individuals.

  ABC News now reports that demand is skyrocketing for a vaccine to protect young children who aren’t yet eligible for treatment, a group facing more cases than ever before during the pandemic.

  Over 94,000 children were diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, according to American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) figures cited by ABC, and hospitals nationwide are reporting more and more children in their pediatric COVID-19 units.

   

  Pfizer has said it will submit vaccine safety data on 5- to 11-year-olds by the end of September. Moderna has said it will do so in the middle of the fall. It will then be up to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant the authorization quickly.

  The vaccine for children ages 5 through 11 would be the same composition but a smaller dose.

  The FDA also isn’t likely to require an extended period of safety data collection for the younger age group.

  “Just so everyone understands, we are going to be very careful as we get down to smaller children,” said Peter Marks, the FDA’s vaccine chief, in a May event with the group BlackDoctor.org.

   

  COVID-19 cases in children surge with 72,000 cases in 1 week

  According to the AAP, children now make up 19 percent of — or nearly 1 in 5 — COVID-19 cases nationwide. Pediatric cases have been steadily increasing in July as the Delta variant has swept through the United States.

  Nearly 4.2 million U.S. children have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

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  Fact Checked

  COVID-19 Updates: Children Under 12 Increasingly at Risk for COVID-19

  Written by Gillian Mohney and George Citroner on August 10, 2021 — Fact checked by Dana K. Cassell

   

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  • More than 4.3 million people globally have died from COVID-19.
  • More than half of U.S. adults are now fully vaccinated.
  • New COVID-19 cases are on the rise in virtually every U.S. state.

   

   

  Update on COVID-19 numbers

  • Globally, there have been more than 203.7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 4.3 million associated deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
  • The United States has reported more than 35.9 million confirmed cases and more than 617,000 associated deaths.
  • Currently, more than 195.2 million people in the United States have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with more than 166.6 million people fully vaccinated.

  Healthline updates this page on weekdays. For up-to-date information about the virus, go here.

  8/10/21 12:00 p.m. PDT — Children under 12 at high risk for developing COVID-19

  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the COVID-19 case rate had skyrocketed to levels last seen before current vaccines were available. There are also new data showing that the Delta variant is more infectious and leads to increased transmissibility compared with other variants — even in vaccinated individuals.

   

  ABC News now reports that demand is skyrocketing for a vaccine to protect young children who aren’t yet eligible for treatment, a group facing more cases than ever before during the pandemic.

  Over 94,000 children were diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, according to American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) figures cited by ABC, and hospitals nationwide are reporting more and more children in their pediatric COVID-19 units.

  Pfizer has said it will submit vaccine safety data on 5- to 11-year-olds by the end of September. Moderna has said it will do so in the middle of the fall. It will then be up to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant the authorization quickly.

   

  The vaccine for children ages 5 through 11 would be the same composition but a smaller dose.

  The FDA also isn’t likely to require an extended period of safety data collection for the younger age group.

  “Just so everyone understands, we are going to be very careful as we get down to smaller children,” said Peter Marks, the FDA’s vaccine chief, in a May event with the group BlackDoctor.org.

  “We have to reduce the dose of the vaccine, we’re more cautious about side effects, it takes longer to do the development,” Marks added.

   

   

  Texas Governor Greg Abbott calls for hospitals to stop nonessential procedures.

  With COVID-19 surging in Texas, the governor is calling on hospitals to stop nonessential surgeries.

  Governor Greg Abbott is asking hospitals to postpone elective medical procedures to avoid overwhelming healthcare facilities.

  Abbott’s administration is facing legal challenges from his handling of the COVID-19 surge. Texas's local government leaders are suing over the governor’s directive that bans local municipalities from implementing mask mandates.

   

  NIH to study how effective COVID-19 booster shots are for people with organ transplants

  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has started a new study trusted Source to see how effective a COVID-19 booster shot is for people who’ve had an organ transplant.

  The study will look at people who’ve had a kidney transplant and who didn’t have an immune reaction to two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. A third dose will be given to see whether it can spur the immune system to provide protection.

  People who’ve undergone organ transplants have to take immunosuppressive drugs and can be at risk for a COVID-19 infection even after vaccination.

   

   

  8/9/21 12:00 p.m. PDT— FDA approval may boost vaccination rates

  Experts say full approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for COVID-19 vaccines may significantly boost vaccination rates.

  Michael Wolf, Ph.D., associate vice chair for research in the medicine department at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, told CNN that full FDA approval could get roughly 5 to 10 percent more people vaccinated.

  Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee and director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the FDA is working on getting the approval soon.

  “I think from the standpoint of the public, it [FDA approval] really shouldn’t matter,” Offit said. “It’s been given to half of the American population. We have more than 300 million doses out there. This is far from experimental.”

   

  Pentagon will require troops to get vaccinated against COVID-19

  According to a report from The Associated Press, the Pentagon will require all troops to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 15.

  A memo obtained by the AP from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recommended troops get ready for the new requirement.

  “I will seek the president’s approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September, or immediately upon” licensure by the FDA, “whichever comes first,” Austin said in the memo to troops, according to the AP.

   

  8/5/21 2:17 p.m. PDT — Moderna vaccine still effective months later

  Vaccine maker Moderna has released new data that their COVID-19 vaccine remains 93 percent effective 6 months after it’s administered.

  The company said Thursday, August 5, that it’s also working on a single shot to provide an annual booster for COVID-19, as well as the flu and respiratory condition RSV.

   

  While the data appears to show that the vaccine will remain effective, company officials say there may still be a need for a COVID-19 booster shot.

  “We believe that increased force of infection resulting from Delta, non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) fatigue, and seasonal effects (moving indoors) will lead to an increase of breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals,” the company said in an investor presentation posted to its website, NBC News reported.

  The average COVID-19 cases nationwide are now running more than 120,000 a day.

  Although some of those are breakthrough cases in the previously vaccinated, the CDC warns that the unvaccinated are 8 times more likely to contract Delta and 25 times more likely to die from it, reported NBC.

   

  COVID-19 cases in children surge with 72,000 cases in 1 week

  According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the Delta variant is now affecting many children.

  According to the AAP, children now make up 19 percent of — or nearly 1 in 5 — COVID-19 cases nationwide. Pediatric cases have been steadily increasing in July as the Delta variant has swept through the United States.

  Nearly 4.2 million U.S. children have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

   

  Southeast Asia hit hard from the Delta variant.

  According to CNN, nations across Asia are up against their worst COVID-19 outbreaks of the pandemic, spurred by low vaccine rates and the highly contagious Delta variant.

  According to CNN, southeast Asian nations that managed to contain outbreaks last year are now struggling with overwhelmed health services, a lack of hospital beds, equipment, and oxygen. They’ve also reimposed lockdowns, shuttering factories, and restricting the movement of citizens already experiencing financial hardship.

  A military coup in Myanmar has brought that country to the verge of collapse as an ensuing bloody crackdown shattered the health system — and completely stalled their vaccination program.

   

  While wealthier countries, like the U.K. and Singapore, are seeing renewed outbreaks, they have fully vaccinated over half their populations, reported CNN.

  By comparison, Vietnam has fully vaccinated less than 1% of its population, Thailand around 5%, the Philippines 9.3%, and Indonesia — the epicenter — only 8%, according to Our World in Data.

  Conclusion

  Wear the mask and protect ourselves.