(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 885,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 63.8% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Latest headlines:
-Only 5 states reporting jump in cases
-Moderna gets full FDA approval for vaccine
-Prime Minister Trudeau tests positive
-‘Partygate’ report finds ‘failures of leadership and judgement’ by UK leaders
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Jan 31, 5:00 pm
Pediatric cases drop for 1st time since Thanksgiving
New COVID-19 cases among children dropped last week for the first time since Thanksgiving, according to a new report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. About 808,000 children tested positive last week, down from a peak of 1,150,000 cases reported the week ending Jan. 20.
However, the organizations warn that pediatric cases remain “extremely high,” still triple the peak level of the delta surge in the summer of 2021.
AAP and CHA noted there is an “urgent” need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects. The two organizations note in their report that a small percentage of pediatric cases have resulted in hospitalization and death.
More than 28 million eligible children remain completely unvaccinated, according to federal and census data.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 31, 3:30 pm
Novavax asks FDA for emergency use authorization for its vaccine
Novavax on Monday submitted a request to the FDA for emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine.
Novavax uses a more traditional protein-based vaccine platform, which is different from Pfizer and Modena’s mRNA technology and Johnson & Johnson’s viral vector technology.
Novavax’s vaccine exposes a person to a lab-based piece of coronavirus to build immunity.
Novavax’s studies — conducted before the omicron variant — showed an approximately 90% efficacy.
Novavax was one of the early contenders for a COVID-19 vaccine; Operation Warp Speed allocated $1.6 billion for 100 million doses if the vaccine was authorized by the FDA.
ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss
Jan 31, 12:00 pm
Only 5 states reporting jump in cases
After weeks of surging cases, many U.S. states continue to see impressive declines in their national case averages.
The U.S. is reporting an average of about 543,000 new cases per day, down by about 32.2% in the last two weeks, according to federal data. Two weeks ago the nation was reporting more than 800,000 new cases every day.
Only five states are seeing at least a 10% increase in new cases: Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Montana and Washington.
But case levels still remain much higher than the nation’s previous surges. Experts point out that many Americans who are taking at-home tests are not submitting their results, and thus, case totals may be higher than reported.
Alaska now leads the nation in new cases per capita followed by Washington state, Kentucky and Oklahoma, according to federal data.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 31, 11:30 am
Moderna gets full FDA approval for vaccine
Moderna has now received full FDA approval for its COVID-19 vaccine, the second vaccine maker to be granted full approval, after Pfizer.
All three vaccines currently available in the U.S. were granted emergency authorization based on large clinical studies and at least two months of safety data.
Moderna said the full approval was “based on a comprehensive submission package including efficacy and safety data approximately six months after second dose.”
ABC News’ Sony Salzman
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