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| The CDC on Thursday endorsed vaccine booster shots for millions of Americans who received their second shot of the Pfizer vaccine at least six months ago. |
| The CDC recommends: |
| • | People 65 years and older and residents in long-term care settings should receive a booster shot. | | • | People 50–64 with underlying medical conditions should receive a booster shot. | | • | People 18–49 with underlying medical conditions may receive a booster shot. | | • | People 18-64 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional setting may receive a booster shot. | |
| It's important to note that a CDC advisory panel voted against making boosters available to that final category (those at increased risk because of occupational or institutional setting). But the head of the CDC decided to reject the panel's recommendation and made boosters available to that group. |
| What if you got the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine? The CDC panel didn't make a decision on mixing and matching boosters. Stay tuned. |
| "If you got the original immunizations, you're in very good shape still," National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collin said Thursday. "Even though we're a little worried about the deterioration and the effectiveness for people who got those doses back in January, they're still pretty darn good and a good reason not to panic or rush around and do something until we really have all the data and science." |
| It's Friday, and this is Coronavirus Watch from the USA TODAY Network. Here's more news you need to know. |
| • | Alachua County schools in north-central Florida are the first in the nation to receive federal money after state officials punished the district for defying them by requiring masks at schools. | | • | Costco said it will limit consumers' purchase of items including toilet paper, paper towels, and bottled water due to supply chain issues and demand generated by the rise of the delta variant. | | • | National Guard teams will be deployed Friday to two hospitals in Indiana for a week to support medical staff responding to COVID-19. | | • | More than 1,100 people under the age of 18 in Wisconsin have tested positive for COVID-19 this week. That is more than any other age group, according to state Department of Health Services data. | | • | India has reported already reported twice as many deaths in 2021 as it did in all of last year, Johns Hopkins University data shows. | |
| Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 42.4 million COVID-19 cases and 678,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there have been more than 229.7 million cases and more than 4.7 million deaths. About 64% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and about 55% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Among U.S. adults, 77% have received at least one shot, and about 66% are fully vaccinated. |
| Tracking the pandemic: See the numbers in your area here. See where cases are rising here. See vaccination rates here. And here, compare vaccinations rates worldwide and see which countries are using which vaccines. |
| – Grace Hauck, USA TODAY breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck |
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