US Democrats propose COVID-19 vaccine mandate for domestic air travel amid concerns

GOOD NEWS

The United States administered over 9.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the past seven days, the highest weekly total since late May, the White House's COVID-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar tweeted on Saturday. Vaccinations of children ages 5 to 11, which became widely available this week, likely contributed to the total.

On Sunday, the CDC updated that 226,157,226 people had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, making up 68.1 percent of the whole US population. Fully vaccinated people stood at 194,951,106, accounting for 58.7 percent of the total. A total of 28,571,625 people, or 14.7 percent of fully vaccinated group, received booster shots.

New York State has opened 10 of its COVID-19 mass vaccination sites to children ages 5 to 11 who become newly eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as it seeks to expand access beyond a network of doctors' offices, local health departments, health centers and pharmacies. Over 50,000 children in the state have received at least one shot since Pfizer's vaccine was approved for the age group.

On Saturday, Governor Kathy Hochul said that she had instructed the mass vaccination sites to acquire pediatric doses and prepare to administer them at those locations, adding the state aims to eventually offer the shots at all 13 of its vaccination sites in the days ahead.

California is among three US states allowing coronavirus booster shots for all adults even though federal health officials recommend limiting doses to those considered most at risk.

The nation's most populous state, along with Colorado and New Mexico, instituted the policies to try to head off a feared surge around the end-of-year holidays when more people are gathering inside.

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COVID-19 cases are still climbing in places like the upper Midwest, Southwest and parts of the Northeast, "hindering the nation's progress in ending a surge triggered by the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus," reported The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

Nationally, the seven-day average of new cases appears to be edging back up after hovering just above 70,000 for several weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, halting what had been a decline from the Delta-fueled peak that began in September, it added.