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Distrust, misinformation and delays because of the holidays and bad weather have combined to produce what authorities say are alarmingly low COVID-19 vaccination rates in U.S. children ages 5 to 11.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia kicked off a COVID-19 booster campaign for the general public on Wednesday, prioritizing third shots for the elderly and people with compromised immune systems.
The government hopes to provide 21 million booster shots in January to people who received their second jabs at least six months ago.
CHICAGO (AP) — Students are poised to return to Chicago Public Schools after leaders of the teachers union approved a plan with the nation's third-largest district late Monday over COVID-19 safety protocols, ending a bitter standoff that canceled classes for five days.
ROME (AP) — Italy targeted the unvaccinated with a host of new coronavirus restrictions Monday, with proof of vaccination or recovery from a recent infection required to enter public transport, cafes, hotels, gyms and other popular venues.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Healthcare and front-line workers along with people above age 60 with health problems lined up Monday at vaccination centers across India to receive a third dose as infections linked to the omicron variant surge.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities on Monday granted emergency authorization for the use of five different COVID-19 vaccines as booster shots that will prioritize vulnerable groups.
Penny Lukito, head of Indonesia’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency, said Sinovac, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Zifivax vaccines would be distributed as a third vaccine shot in the country.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fully vaccinated and mostly masked, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared skeptical Friday of the Biden administration's authority to impose a vaccine-or-testing requirement on the nation's large employers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators on Friday shortened the time that people who received Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine have to wait for a booster — to five months rather than six.
The two-dose Moderna vaccine is open to Americans 18 and older.
Afternoons with Grammy. Birthday parties. Meeting other toddlers at the park. Parents of children too young to be vaccinated are facing difficult choices as an omicron variant-fueled surge in COVID-19 cases makes every encounter seem risky.
The U.S. is urging that everyone 12 and older get a COVID-19 booster as soon as they're eligible, to help fight back the hugely contagious omicron mutant that's ripping through the country.
Boosters already were encouraged for all Americans 16 and older, but Wednesday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed an extra Pfizer shot for younger teens — those 12 to 15 — and strengthened its recommendation that 16- and 17-year-olds get it, too.
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron burst into the presidential race with an explosive remark about the country's minority of unvaccinated people — in an apparent effort to win support from mainstream voters but at the risk of widening divisions over the issue.
The U.S. is expanding COVID-19 boosters as it confronts the omicron surge, with the Food and Drug Administration allowing extra Pfizer shots for children as young as 12.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Much of Asia has largely managed to keep omicron at bay even as the variant rages in other parts of the world, but the region that is home to most of the globe’s population is bracing for what may be an inevitable surge.
BEIJING — The Chinese city of Xi’an recorded 175 local coronavirus infections on Monday, as it grapples with a coronavirus outbreak that has pushed China’s daily cases to record highs since early last year.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Nations around the world are lurching into lockdown, steeling themselves for a brutal surge as the omicron variant spreads like wildfire.
But in Dubai, Donna Sese is bracing for a very different surge: countless restaurant bookings and meter-long drink bills.
Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe for children?
Yes, U.S. regulators authorized Pfizer’s vaccine for younger children after millions of 12- to 17-year-olds already safely got the shot, the only one available for children in the country.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The District of Columbia government is imposing a series of COVID-19 vaccine mandates as it intensifies virus protocols in response to spiraling infection numbers and the march of the omicron variant.
BERLIN (AP) — The omicron variant could be dominant in Germany in one to three weeks, a senior official said Wednesday, while the health minister called for vaccination centers to be kept open over the Christmas holidays to keep the country's booster campaign up to speed.
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump revealed he received a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, drawing boos from a crowd in Dallas.
Trump made the disclosure Sunday night during the final stop of “The History Tour,” a live interview show he has been doing with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The European Union’s executive branch on Monday authorized a fifth COVID-19 vaccine for use in the 27-nation bloc, giving the green light to the two-dose vaccine made by U.S.
Moderna said Monday that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine should offer protection against the rapidly spreading omicron variant.
Moderna said lab tests showed the half-dose booster shot increased by 37 times the level of so-called neutralizing antibodies able to fight omicron.
WESTERSTEDE, Germany (AP) — As hospitals across Europe brace themselves for a surge in coronavirus cases over the holiday season because of the new omicron variant, Westerstede Clinical Center is cautiously hopeful it can weather the storm.
Tens of millions of workers across the U.S. are in limbo as federal courts have issued different rulings related to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates for larger private companies, certain health care workers and federal government contractors.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — In a move criticized by business groups and hailed by labor advocates, California's workplace regulators on Thursday extended the state's coronavirus pandemic regulations into next year with revisions that employers said could worsen the state's severe labor shortage.
Pfizer said Friday it was changing plans and testing three doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in babies and preschoolers after the usual two shots didn't appear strong enough for some of the children.
Pfizer announced the change after a preliminary analysis found 2- to 4-year-olds didn't have as strong an immune response as expected to the very low-dose shots the company is testing in the youngest children.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday his government is accelerating COVID-19 booster shots and securing oral medicines after speaking with Pfizer Inc. CEO Albert Burla.
Japan has confirmed a handful of omicron variant cases, while revealing a cluster of infections of about 100 U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) — All of the U.S. military services have now begun disciplinary actions and discharges for troops who have refused to get the mandated coronavirus vaccine, officials said, with as many as 20,000 unvaccinated forces at risk of being removed from service.
Most Americans should be given the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead of the Johnson & Johnson shot that can cause rare but serious blood clots, U.S. health officials said Thursday.
The strange clotting problem has caused nine confirmed deaths after J&J vaccinations — while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines don't come with that risk and also appear more effective, said advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
BERLIN (AP) — Germany is scrambling to procure more vaccines to fuel what the new health minister on Thursday called a “very offensive" and fast booster strategy that would leave the country better prepared for the onslaught of the new omicron variant.
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Some former vaccine skeptics in Eastern Europe have shifted over to the other side as coronavirus infections surge, countries are making it more difficult for the unvaccinated to travel abroad and authorities battle against government distrust and vaccine disinformation.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece, Italy and a handful of other European Union nations began vaccinating children ages 5-11 against COVID-19 on Wednesday as EU governments braced for the omicron variant to spread quickly during the travel and large gatherings of the holiday season.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The European Union drugs regulator said Wednesday that people 18 and older can receive a booster shot for the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at least two months after their initial shot of the one-dose vaccine.
CHAVANNES-DE-BOGIS, Switzerland (AP) — The head of vaccine alliance Gavi, which is leading a U.N.-backed push to get COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries, said that he’s seen early signs that rich countries are beginning to withhold donations out of fears about the omicron coronavirus variant — warning any new hoarding could lead to “Inequity 2.0.”
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The omicron variant is offering more hints about what it may have in store as it spreads around the globe: A highly transmissible virus that may cause less severe disease, and one that can be slowed — but not stopped — by today’s vaccines.
LONDON (AP) — The omicron variant is spreading so rapidly it has the potential to overwhelm Britain’s hospitals, highlighting the need to strengthen coronavirus restrictions and speed up the delivery of booster vaccine shots, the country's health minister said Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force has discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, making them what officials believe are the first service members to be removed for disobeying the mandate to get the shots.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's government said Tuesday it plans to start making mRNA vaccines at home with a new plant that could produce up to 100 million doses each year.
The announcement came as coronavirus cases in Sydney and surrounding areas jumped, driven in part by the omicron variant.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia will require proof of COVID-19 vaccination to dine indoors at bars, restaurants, indoor sporting events and other food-related establishments starting Jan. 3, city and public health officials announced Monday.
The NFL is requiring coaches, front-office staff and team personnel to receive a COVID-19 booster by Dec. 27.
In a memo sent to teams on Monday and obtained by The Associated Press, the league said: “Given the increased prevalence of the virus in our communities, our experts have recommended that we implement the CDC’s recommendation.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court refused Monday to halt a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for health care workers in New York that does not offer an exemption for religious reasons.
The court acted on emergency appeals filed by doctors, nurses and other medical workers who say they are being forced to choose between their jobs and religious beliefs.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina is now one of 29 states where the COVID-19 omicron variant has been detected, according to the latest numbers the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Monday.
One year ago, the biggest vaccination drive in American history began with a flush of excitement in an otherwise gloomy December. Trucks loaded with freezer-packed vials of a COVID-19 vaccine that had proved wildly successful in clinical trials fanned out across the land, bringing shots that many hoped would spell the end of the crisis.
LONDON (AP) — Long lines formed Monday at vaccination centers across England as people heeded the government’s call for all adults to get booster shots to protect themselves against the omicron variant, and as the U.K.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has postponed getting a booster shot of a COVID-19 vaccine because he has tested positive for the disease and is recuperating from mild symptoms, his office announced Monday.
VIENNA (AP) — Children from 5 to 11 years old will be eligible to begin receiving COVID-19 vaccine doses this week in Berlin, health officials said Sunday, joining other German states in opening up appointments to younger children.
The push to get vaccine booster shots is not an immediate priority in most of the top sports leagues in North America even with delta and omicron variants spreading.
COVID-19 vaccines don’t cause immunodeficiency syndrome
CLAIM: COVID-19 vaccines are causing a new illness called “VAIDS,” short for vaccine acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
THE FACTS: VAIDS is not a real condition, nor do COVID-19 vaccines cause a syndrome matching this description, an immunotherapy expert confirmed to The Associated Press.