Pfizer announced Saturday that tweaking its COVID-19 vaccine to better target the omicron variant is safe and works — just days before regulators debate whether to offer Americans updated booster shots this fall.

The vaccines currently used in the U.S. still offer strong protection against severe COVID-19 disease and death -- especially if people have gotten a booster dose. But those vaccines target the original coronavirus strain and their effectiveness against any infection dropped markedly when the super-contagious omicron mutant emerged.

Now with omicron's even more transmissible relatives spreading widely, the Food and Drug Administration is considering ordering a recipe change for the vaccines made by both Pfizer and rival Moderna in hopes that modified boosters could better protect against another COVID-19 surge expected this fall and winter.

Pfizer and its partner BioNTech studied two different ways of updating their shots -- targeting just omicron, or a combination booster that adds omicron protection to the original vaccine. They also tested whether to keep today's standard dosage -- 30 micrograms -- or to double the shots' strength.

In a study of more than 1,200 middle-aged and older adults who'd already had three vaccine doses, Pfizer said both booster approaches spurred a substantial jump in omicron-fighting antibodies.

"Based on these data, we believe we have two very strong omicron-adapted candidates," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement.

Pfizer's omicron-only booster sparked the strongest immune response against that variant.

But many experts say combination shots may be the best approach because they would retain the proven benefits of the original COVID-19 vaccine while adding new protection against omicron. And Pfizer said a month after people received its combo shot, they had a 9 to 11-fold increase in omicron-fighting antibodies. That's more than 1.5 times better than another dose of the original vaccine.

And importantly, preliminary lab studies show the tweaked shots also produce antibodies capable of fighting omicron's genetically distinct relatives named BA.4 and BA.5, although those levels weren't nearly as high.

Moderna recently announced similar results from tests of its combination shot, what scientists call a "bivalent" vaccine.

The studies weren't designed to track how well updated boosters prevented COVID-19 cases. Nor is it clear how long any added protection would last.

But the FDA's scientific advisers will publicly debate the data on Tuesday, as they grapple with whether to recommend a change to the vaccines' recipes -- ahead of similar decisions by other countries.

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Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more, deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday.

On Dec. 8, 2020, a retired shop clerk in England received the first shot in what would become a global vaccination campaign. Over the next 12 months, more than 4.3 billion people around the world lined up for the vaccines.

The effort, though marred by persisting inequities, prevented deaths on an unimaginable scale, said Oliver Watson of Imperial College London, who led the new modeling study.

"Catastrophic would be the first word that comes to mind," Watson said of the outcome if vaccines hadn't been available to fight the coronavirus. The findings "quantify just how much worse the pandemic could have been if we did not have these vaccines."

The researchers used data from 185 countries to estimate that vaccines prevented 4.2 million COVID-19 deaths in India, 1.9 million in the United States, 1 million in Brazil, 631,000 in France and 507,000 in the United Kingdom.

An additional 600,000 deaths would have been prevented if the World Health Organization target of 40% vaccination coverage by the end of 2021 had been met, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The main finding — 19.8 million COVID-19 deaths were prevented — is based on estimates of how many more deaths than usual occurred during the time period. Using only reported COVID-19 deaths, the same model yielded 14.4 million deaths averted by vaccines.

The London scientists excluded China because of uncertainty around the pandemic's effect on deaths there and its huge population.

The study has other limitations. The researchers did not include how the virus might have mutated differently in the absence of vaccines. And they did not factor in how lockdowns or mask-wearing might have changed if vaccines weren't available.

Another modeling group used a different approach to estimate that 16.3 million COVID-19 deaths were averted by vaccines. That work, by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, has not been published.

In the real world, people wear masks more often when cases are surging, said the institute's Ali Mokdad, and 2021's delta wave without vaccines would have prompted a major policy response.

"We may disagree on the number as scientists, but we all agree that COVID vaccines saved lots of lives," Mokdad said.

The findings underscore both the achievements and the shortcomings of the vaccination campaign, said Adam Finn of Bristol Medical School in England, who like Mokdad was not involved in the study.

"Although we did pretty well this time — we saved millions and millions of lives — we could have done better and we should do better in the future," Finn said.

Funding came from several groups including the WHO; the UK Medical Research Council; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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The Biden administration is declaring monkeypox a public health emergency, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced Thursday.

The action frees up federal funds and resources to combat the outbreak.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports more than 6,000 cases of monkeypox have been detected in the U.S. Montana and Wyoming are the only states without confirmed monkeypox cases.

The CDC says monkeypox can spread in various ways:

• Direct contact with monkeypox rash, scabs, or body fluids from a person with monkeypox.
• Touching objects, fabrics (clothing, bedding, or towels), and surfaces used by someone with monkeypox.
• Contact with respiratory secretions.

There is a vaccine for monkeypox, but it's in short supply. It's currently being offered to people who are infected or considered high-risk. That includes people who have had "multiple sexual partners in the past 2 weeks in an area with known monkeypox" cases.

WASHINGTON —

President Joe Biden rolled up his sleeve and got his updated COVID-19 booster shot Tuesday, as he urged millions of people who have yet to be boosted to do so by Halloween, if possible, so they can gather safely with family and friends this holiday season.

“Get vaccinated,” he said, noting that it's free. “Not enough people are getting it.”

Biden also called on Congress to provide the billions of dollars the administration has requested to buy additional vaccines, tests and treatments. Some lawmakers have balked at the request for more than $20 billion in new coronavirus funding.

Biden, who was flanked by his COVID-19 response team, declared that the fight against the spread of the virus is global in nature and the “funding we seek is critical” to that effort.

Over 20 million people, including nearly 1 in 5 older adults, have gotten the updated COVID-19 booster, the White House said. The vaccine has been reformulated to target the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of omicron, the most dominant strains in the United States.

Biden said more people need to get the vaccine as winter approaches and they will be spending more time indoors and potentially spreading sickness. He added that the vaccine is available free of charge within 5 miles of where most people live.

He urged people to get the coronavirus booster at the same time they get an annual flu shot. He said a COVID-19 booster will become an annual event.

“For most Americans, one COVID shot each year will be all they need,” Biden said at the White House. “And if you get it, you'll be protected. And if you don't, you're putting yourself and other people at unnecessary risk.”

“I'm calling on All Americans ... all Americans to get their shot, just as soon as they can,” he said.

A member of the White House Medical Unit gave the shot to Biden in his left arm. He had to delay getting his booster, in accordance with federal health guidance, because he was infected with COVID-19 over the summer.

Biden again called on businesses, schools and civic leaders to help, including by holding on-site vaccination clinics and giving employees time off to get boosted. Most deaths from COVID-19 are now preventable, he said.

Three respiratory viruses are currently circulating in the U.S: the flu, COVID-19 and RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, said Dr. Ashish Jha, leader of the White House response.

Jha said during morning TV appearances that the combination of a flu shot and updated COVID booster will help people avoid serious illness and stay out of the hospital as they get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving and other holidays with friends and family.

RSV has been affecting children, and there is no shot available to treat it, though companies are working to develop one, he said.

“So if people went out and got their vaccines, we could really get through this without getting into a lot of trouble,” Jha said Tuesday on “CBS Mornings.”

“If you’re relying on your old vaccine from nine months ago or an infection from a year ago, that’s probably not going to be good enough and that’s one of the reasons we’re urging all Americans — but particularly older Americans, particularly seniors — to get the new updated COVID vaccine, because I do think it’s going to make a really big difference," Jha said on “Today” on NBC.

Biden had to wait a few months to get his updated COVID booster because he was infected, then reinfected, with COVID-19 over the summer.

More people are surviving cancer. According to statistics released by the American Cancer Society, cancer mortality has dropped 33% since 1991. That's 3.8 million cancer deaths averted, the organization says.

In 2023, nearly 2 million new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed and more than 609,820 cancer deaths are projected in the U.S.

The American Cancer Society says new cancer prevention methods and screenings are leading to better outcomes.

The organization touted the success of the HPV vaccine. It noted that there was a 65% reduction in cervical cancer rates in women ages 20-24 from 2012 through 2019.

“The large drop in cervical cancer incidence is extremely exciting because this is the first group of women to receive the HPV vaccine, and it probably foreshadows steep reductions in other HPV-associated cancers,” said Rebecca Siegel, lead author of the study.

The report, however, wasn't all good news. It showed prostate cancer increased by 3% from 2014 through 2019 after 20 years of decline. Additionally, the report details that the increase was driven by those diagnosed with advanced-stage prostate cancer.

"We must address these shifts in prostate cancer, especially in the Black community, since the incidence of prostate cancer in Black men is 70% higher than in White men and prostate cancer mortality rates in Black men are approximately two to four times higher than those in every other racial and ethnic group," said Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer at the American Cancer Society

Researchers are on the cusp of rolling out a new vaccine to combat the respiratory syncytial virus amid an increase in cases in recent months.RSV has become the second leading cause of hospitalization, and tens of thousands of people a year die from it. Children under 2 and adults older than 60 are most at risk for serious disease, and a vaccine has been elusive -- until now."It will be a huge, huge breakthrough for us to have an RSV vaccine available," said Dr. James Campbell, professor of pediatrics and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.RELATED: Sinai pediatrician describes ICU availability amid increase in RSV casesModerna released preliminary results of their vaccine for RSV that shows it's more than 80% effective at preventing serious disease in people older than 60. The company is preparing to submit the vaccine to the Food and Drug Administration for approval, which follows submissions from Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline late last year."The Pfizer vaccine, they also relayed results on giving that same vaccine to pregnant women, and then what happens is the antibodies the woman makes, gets passed through the placenta into the baby, and they showed very good protection in the first three months of life," Campbell said.Clinical trials are underway on a vaccine for babies and young children, who are among the high-risk groups for developing complications and dying from RSV.RELATED: Maryland hospitals concerned over surge of children with RSVThese would be the first RSV vaccines approved, which would be a feat because researchers have been working on them since the 1960s. Moderna's version uses the mRNA technology made famous by its COVID-19 vaccine."The reason why they could move so quickly on the COVID vaccine was because they had already been studying this RSV vaccine that we're just learning about now, and they used that same technology, and a lot of the tricks they found from that, in order to develop the COVID vaccine," Campbell said.RSV video playlist below:Campbell cautioned the results in the RSV vaccine study are preliminary and are not yet peer-reviewed, so while promising, he's waiting for the full details."That doesn't take away that this is really exciting news, but I think everyone should be waiting to see what the final, all the data show for this vaccine and the other RSV vaccines," Campbell said.Campbell said researchers are hopeful that some of these vaccines will be approved in time for RSV season in the fall.LINK: Maryland Department of Health website for RSV

A highly-anticipated Alzheimer's treatment is expected to become available this month. However, experts warn that accessibility will likely be a problem.

Lecanemab is the first treatment that appears to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. It's only for people in the early stages of cognitive decline.

Lecanemab is an infusion given every two weeks. It's estimated to cost $25,000 a year.

Those not wealthy or those not in clinical trials are expected to be left out.

"Another barrier to access stems from the fact Lecanemab is on accelerated FDA approval," said Dr. Michael Weiner.

He expects the FDA to announce whether the drug gets full approval later this year. If it is fully approved, the Center for Medicare Services will decide whether to cover it.

Once a drug is approved for Medicare, some insurance will pay for it and it is available through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"I think those of us in the field, who see these patients and know what's going on and see the effects of this treatment, think that this treatment should definitely be available to the population, and we ought to try to find a way to pay for i.," Weiner said.

In clinical trials, the drug has been shown to slow cognitive decline by about 25%. Weiner said that could mean six to nine months of independence for patients and caregivers.

Plummeting COVID-19 case counts across the United States are leading to lifted mask mandates and more conversations about steps toward normalcy — but more people are dying of the coronavirus now than during most points of the pandemic.

More than 2,000 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the United States each day for the past month. Average daily deaths are falling, but from a very high point. They dipped just below that mark in recent days, to about 1,900 on Monday; the federal holiday may have delayed reporting.

Before omicron became the dominant coronavirus strain in the U.S., there were only about 100 other days when there were more than 2,000 COVID-19 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The only other time that deaths have been this high for this long was during the first winter surge, before vaccines were available. The omicron wave has also been deadlier for longer than the delta surge: In September, when delta was dominant, average daily deaths topped 2,000 for half as long.

More than 120,000 people in the U.S. have died of COVID-19 since omicron became the dominant variant in December, and COVID-19 has accounted for more than 1 in 5 deaths reported in 2022.

A common refrain early in the pandemic was that COVID-19 was most deadly for the elderly and people with certain health conditions. The people dying from COVID-19 now tend to be younger than before, and they're overwhelmingly unvaccinated, experts say.

"I've long since lost track of the number of people I've seen die of the disease, but the reality is that almost everybody who is critically ill, in the ICU or dying now remains unvaccinated. That has been true since the beginning. But in the beginning, people didn't have the opportunity to be vaccinated," said Dr. Stephen Threlkeld, medical director of the infectious diseases program at Baptist Memorial Health Care in Memphis.

"None of us taking care of COVID patients need CDC statistics or anyone else to tell us that, because we simply see that reality play out every day and have for quite some time."

But the data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is clear. In December, the risk of dying from COVID-19 was 14 times higher for unvaccinated adults than it was for adults who were fully vaccinated with their initial series. The gap was even larger when looking at those who also got their booster shot: 51 times higher.

Throughout the pandemic, the majority of COVID-19 deaths have happened in hospitals. But that share is even larger now, as nursing homes have become less of a hotspot. In 2020, more than 1 in 5 COVID-19 deaths was in a nursing home. But in 2022, fewer than 1 in 10 deaths have been in nursing homes, according to provisional data from the CDC.

Vaccination rates are higher among older people in the U.S., leaving a larger share of younger, unvaccinated people at higher risk for severe outcomes.

Nearly 90% of seniors 65 and older are fully vaccinated with their initial vaccine series, and about two-thirds of those eligible have gotten their booster shot. But less than two-thirds of adults under the age of 40 and less than a third of children are fully vaccinated.

And the vaccines are working. Seniors accounted for 81% of COVID-19 deaths in 2020, a number that dropped to 69% in 2021 and has stayed at 76% so far in 2022, despite the increased risk for breakthrough infection amid exponential community spread.

"The virus simply went to the fuel that it had remaining," Threlkeld said.

Racial disparities in COVID-19 deaths persist, but have decreased over time. Black, Hispanic and American Indian people are still about twice as likely to die of COVID-19 than white people, but that risk has fallen from about three times higher at the end of 2020.

And white people, who are less likely to be vaccinated than Hispanic people, have accounted for a growing share of deaths recently. An analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that early in the omicron surge, the death rate for Hispanic people remained lower than the rate for white people, but death rates among Black people rose.

And as the virus spread rapidly throughout the country, social determinants of health have started to play a larger role in who becomes seriously ill and dies from COVID-19.

"Delta was much more deadly. But omicron is so widespread," said Dr. Faisal Masud, director of the critical care center at Houston Methodist.

Extremely high transmission rates mean the virus is reaching everyone, but it's hitting those from disadvantaged neighborhoods especially hard, he said. These are the people who are more likely to be uninsured and who may delay care, leaving chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension untreated.

"Patients who start with poor health come at a disadvantage," he said.

Texas has reported more COVID-19 deaths than any other state in the past week and is on track to soon outpace California in terms of total COVID-19 deaths. It's important to note the significant differences in health insurance rates and vaccination rates in the two states, Masud said. More than 70% of Californians are fully vaccinated, compared with about 60% of Texans, according to CDC data.

Overall, the proportion of omicron cases that have resulted in deaths appears to be lower than the case-mortality ratio for delta.

But it's a "denominator phenomenon," Threlkeld said, meaning a lower percentage of a much larger number is still going to be large.

"I think that's what people have forgotten: Just because something is a little less likely in a given person to cause severe disease, there are so many more people who've contracted this infection that you're going to have a lot of people who are ill," he said.

"We've certainly seen a lot of unvaccinated people who've done very poorly."

The COVID-19 vaccine for kids under five is on hold again.

On Friday, the FDA said it was delaying an advisory committee meeting to review the vaccine for children six months and up.

New data from Pfizer indicates while the vaccine appears safe, it may not work well enough to meet FDA standards.

“What we see, particularly among two- to five-year-olds, the data is not so compelling in terms of it being effective," said Eyal Oren, who runs the public health program at San Diego State University. "Meaning two doses did not promote an effective or strong immuno-response in these kids."

He says FDA officials say they want to wait on a decision until there is data available about a third dose of the vaccine.

Some doctors hope a vaccine is approved soon because kids are still sick.

“The younger the child, they could have difficulty breathing as that mucus gets in the lungs," said Dr. Joe Perno, the vice president of medical affairs at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. "So breathing problems where they’re breathing fast, where it’s sucking in around their ribs, they’re panting, those types of things. Those are come see us in the emergency room right away."

He says it’s important to note how safe the vaccine has been in other age groups.

“There are over eight million kids in the U.S. alone that have received at least one dose of the vaccine over the age of five, and the safety profile is astronomical," said Perno.

The FDA hasn't said when it would review this topic again, but Pfizer said it would have data on the third dose available in April.

About 18 million children under the age of 5 in the United States could soon be eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine — but first, the child-sized shot must go through a rigorous authorization process that's taking a different path than the COVID-19 vaccines that came before.

On Tuesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they had initiated a rolling submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of data for their vaccine for children ages 6 months up to 5 years. The companies expect to complete the request for emergency use authorization soon.

It will still go through a thorough safety and efficacy review by U.S. health agencies and experts, but it's a different plan than what was expected late last year.

In December, Pfizer announced that it decided to add a third dose to the primary vaccine regimen for young children. It said the original two-dose series did not provide the expected immunity in 2- to 5-year-olds.

Still, this week's request seeks authorization for the two-dose vaccine, which could make the vaccine available sooner. Pfizer and BioNTech plan to continue testing a three-dose regimen in this younger age group and say they will submit the additional data on a third dose in the coming months.

The company decided to submit for authorization of the two-dose vaccine now "with pediatric COVID-19 cases surpassing 10 million and at the request of the FDA," it said.

"Having a safe and effective vaccine available for children in this age group is a priority for the agency and we're committed to a timely review of the data, which the agency asked Pfizer to submit in light of the recent omicron surge," acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in a news release.

What changed since December

In December, Pfizer said that the vaccines appeared to protect the youngest children — infants and toddlers up to 2 — at the same levels seen in teens and young adults, slashing symptoms in 90% of kids who got the shot. However, the 3-microgram dose did not produce the same immune response in 2- to 5-year-olds.

The dose for infants and young children is about one-third of the dose given to children age 5 to 11 and a tenth the size of the dose given to people 12 and older.

The company decided to expand its trial to include a third dose, rather than the two doses older children and adults receive in a primary vaccine series.

What changed between December and this week's authorization request, public health leaders said, was the omicron variant.

During the omicron surge, cases among children "spiked dramatically," the American Academy of Pediatrics said Monday. There have been over 3.5 million child cases reported in January alone.

"It turns out that has actually facilitated the collection of more important additional clinical data that we did not have in December," U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said at a White House COVID-19 briefing Wednesday. "Whether that changes the risk-benefit profile is what the FDA will be assessing, but there has been developments since December on the data front."

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Some suggest that the FDA may be pursing a strategy of authorizing the first two doses of a vaccine that may not offer substantial protection until after a third dose, hoping to start kids on the series even as data on third shots is still pending.

Children have a lower risk of serious outcomes from a COVID-19 infection compared with elderly or immunocompromised adults. But about 1% of children who catch COVID-19 will be hospitalized. Infections can also lead to long-term consequences in children as they do in adults, increasing the risk for diabetes, autoimmune disease and a delayed reaction to infection called multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which requires hospital care.

"If the goal of the vaccine is to get baseline immunity in the kids — to prevent really bad outcomes and you're really not using the vaccine as a tool to prevent infection in the first place — two doses could do that," former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who sits on the board of Pfizer, said on CBS on Sunday. "I think that may be why federal health officials are rethinking this. If, in fact, they decide to authorize this on the basis of two doses, it could be out much sooner, perhaps as early as early March."

Others agree that it could be a smart approach.

"When I was on hospital service last, there was a 7-month-old in the intensive care unit," Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told CNN. "If you can prevent that safely, and that's number one, and effectively, number two, then prevent it" with a vaccine.

Offit sits on the panel of experts that advises the FDA on its vaccine authorizations and will be one of the first to review the new data on the vaccine. The FDA's independent vaccine advisers will meet Feb. 15 to discuss the company's data on the youngest children and make a recommendation on the vaccine.

The path to authorization

To authorize COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, the FDA has previously set a bar of 50% effectiveness, meaning the shots have to prevent disease or decrease severity in at least 50% of the people who get them.

Since the data has not been released, it's unclear whether the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for younger children meets that standard after two doses.

Most experts CNN spoke with said they couldn't think of another vaccine review process quite like this.

One somewhat similar example is the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was authorized at one dose while the company tested a second, although the first dose proved sufficient to meet the FDA's authorization requirements.

The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is expected to produce a "good efficacy signal" in children younger than 5, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday.

"The FDA is looking at the data very carefully, and in their typical fashion, they will be very careful in scrutinizing the data and making a recommendation of the decision based on that data," Fauci said.

That decision to go ahead and ask for the authorization, though, is still considered odd by some health experts.

"This does seem very unusual," said Dr. Eric Rubin, a member of the FDA's vaccine advisory committee and assistant professor microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School.

"Regulators have to weigh risk and benefit. And in this case, we know a lot about the risks in older individuals, and they're very low, including older children," Rubin said. "It doesn't have to be that great, as long as we have something that's safe, and then a theoretical benefit could be that you are set up well for future vaccines. But having said all that, it does seem like a very unusual route to take."

Rubin thinks that with so many parents eager to get their kids vaccinated, there may also be some lobbying underway.

"FDA doesn't seem to be immune to political pressures," he said. "And I know that there are some who are saying that it would be good to get a couple doses of vaccine into kids now, in assuming that the third dose is going to be the one that makes a difference."

'We need a vaccine for kids'

Dr. Helen Talbot, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University and a member of the CDC's independent vaccine advisory board, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, also hasn't seen the data. But she too believes there may be some pressure from parents.

"There's families of kids less than 5 who are really pushing. They feel like they're the last ones that don't have access, and there's nothing available for them," Talbot said. She knows this personally, since she gets a lot of emails asking about it, too.

Talbot said her questions are around safety data and the potential benefits and risks.

She is concerned about people in the middle who aren't quite sure if they want to get their child vaccinated. Only about 3 in 10 parents say they'll get their child under 5 vaccinated against COVID-19 right away, according to survey results from the Kaiser Family Foundation that were released Tuesday.

Communication may be key to help parents understand why they should vaccinate their small children, particularly if two doses may not be as protective as three.

"The FDA is really going to have to be able to eloquently explain the decision," she said.

For his part, Dr. Jay Portnoy, a member of the FDA's advisory panel on vaccines, says he's glad to see the FDA speeding up its process.

"I'm actually relieved," said Portnoy, who's a pediatrician at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. "Right now, our hospital is filled, not all Covid patients but many COVID patients, including our intensive care unit."

Portnoy says parents are anxious and worried.

"They're forced to send their kids to school, and the schools aren't allowed to mandate masks or anything else," he said."So what is a parent to do? That's just from my perspective. It's about time. We need a vaccine for kids."

What happens after authorization

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday that the administration is ready to "hit the ground running" to vaccinate young children as soon as Pfizer receives a green light from the federal government.

Zients said the U.S. has enough kid-size needles and supplies to administer the vaccines. The administration is also working with local public health partners to make thousands of locations nationwide ready to vaccinate these children.

"We know many parents are eager to get their kids the protection of the vaccine. We know others have questions. So we're working with our partners to ensure all parents have access to the facts and information they need to make the right decision," Zients said.

Pfizer has said it's testing a third dose administered eight weeks after a second dose. Data on a potential third dose, an updated authorization and third-dose rollout would come later on.

This may not be the last change to the COVID-19 vaccine schedule.

Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said this week that it may be a while before scientists figure out the best vaccine schedule for children.

"What the vaccine schedule should be is much more complicated, and that may take months or even years to optimize," Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

"It's probably a three-dose schedule for lots of people, but we really don't know that yet," Frieden said. "Nor do we know the right interval between doses. That's going to be with time, but we do know that vaccines are remarkably effective."

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. —

A North Carolina man who struggled with COVID-19 for more than two months is making a miraculous recovery.

Steve Rose started out feeling like he just had a cold, but he ended up in a coma and on life support. He was put into a medically-induced coma before Thanksgiving, and he just woke up a couple of weeks ago.

"Last conversation I remember was talking about Thanksgiving dinner. I was looking forward to it," Rose told WRAL-TV.

Doctors placed him on an ECMO machine twice, which supplies oxygen directly to a patient's blood when a ventilator isn't enough.

While he's come far, he still has a long road to recovery.

He never got vaccinated and regrets that now.

"Almost selfish to not get the vaccine," he said.

Watch the video above to learn more about this story.

OMAHA, Neb. —

A Nebraska native nearly lost both her parents to COVID-19 at the same time.

Traci Pribyl, of Omaha, was on a ventilator for a month. Her husband, Robert, was in a hospital bed of his own trying to fight off the virus.

A routine doctor's appointment for 71-year-old Robert Pribyl led to a COVID-19 diagnosis. It was early November. His doctor asked him to come back a couple of days later for a check-up, then immediately admitted him to the hospital.

"I felt weak, real weak,” he said.

Little did he know, his 55-year-old wife Traci was home alone with the virus, and deteriorating fast.

Their daughter flew in from Florida when Traci stopped answering texts.

She had a nurse come by to give her mom an IV.

“She had given Traci fluids and they said her vitals were horrible and so she called the squad. I believe that is what saved her life,” Robert said.

Traci was rushed to the ER. Both Pribyls were now in the hospital fighting the virus.

“I just told her, I said, 'mom, you're not doing so good. And I need you to be strong for me, because I’m trying, and I can't hold it together. But they're going to have to put you to sleep. Your body needs to rest,” Kirstin Pribyl said.

Traci spent the next month on a ventilator.

Kirstin said it was moment by moment for both parents.

"It is so traumatic. I just can’t stress that enough. It's very traumatic to watch this, to go through this, to make these decisions. I definitely thought that my world was going to start crashing down on me,” Kirstin said.

Robert went home in two weeks. Traci was released Dec. 6.

Even though he's older, Robert believes he was better off because of one thing.

“She was not vaccinated, and I was,” Robert said. “But I am now,” Traci added.

“They say it's not so bad if you're vaccinated. You can still catch it but you don’t have the severity of the disease,” Robert said.

Traci said she wasn't sure about the vaccine and held off on getting it. She said that decision was “stupid.”

“I don’t want to say I was cocky and invincible and that it wouldn’t happen to me, because everybody’s number is going to be pulled at some point, but I just didn’t realize it would be this bad and I would be in delirium,” she said.

She said doctors told her it could take up to two years to fully recover. She said she doesn’t remember even taking Robert to the hospital, nor the entirety of her illness, until doctors were taking the tube out of her body.

She's still waiting for her voice to come back.

They encourage others to just get the shot.

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that older adults who are not vaccinated are at a significantly higher risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19 than seniors who are vaccinated.

The CDC looked at adults who were 65 years old and up.

Those who had not been vaccinated were nearly 50 times more likely to end up in the hospital compared to those who were fully vaccinated and boosted.

Unvaccinated seniors were 17 times more likely to be hospitalized compared to their peers who only received two doses of the shot.

The risk went down, but not significantly, for unvaccinated adults between 50 and 64 years old.

The European Medicine Agency also released data today that showed getting fully vaccinated and boosted is the best protection against the Omicron variant.

The variant has caused breakthrough cases among the vaccinated.

But health experts say people who have received the booster shot are unlikely to develop severe symptoms and have a significantly lower risk of death from COVID-19.

BALTIMORE —

The extent of potential damage COVID-19 can cause on the lungs and long-term damage can depend on whether a person is vaccinated.

A Maryland radiologist wants people to see what he sees in COVID-19 patients, hoping to move the unvaccinated to get vaccinated.

Dr. Omer Awan, who is the associate vice chair of education in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, wants the public to understand and see the difference for themselves.

"There is a dramatic difference in chest X-rays we see in patients that have been fully vaccinated who test positive for COVID-19 and those who are not vaccinated," Awan said.

Awan showed sister station WBAL computed tomography images of a vaccinated COVID-19 patient and compared it to images showing unvaccinated lung damage.

"You can see in the vaccinated individual, much of the lung is black, and that's a good thing because the black demonstrates air," Awan said.

It was a much different story in the lung of an unvaccinated person.

"The burden of disease or the burden of infection is much more pronounced in an unvaccinated individual versus a vaccinated individual," Awan said.

Tracking the omicron surge

Awan said the symptoms of a vaccinated person are milder than in an unvaccinated person.

"Oftentimes, those that are unvaccinated will have full-blown shortness of breath. They may require oxygen therapy. There's a higher propensity for them to go into the ICU," Awan said.

Awan said he hopes the images will change minds.

"If you see images, you can see clearly the proof in vaccination and how effective the vaccines are by looking at a chest X-ray. Oftentimes, that's more helpful from a visual standpoint than just hearing people spit out statistics," Awan said.

Both vaccination and prior infection help protect against new COVID-19 infections, but vaccination protects against hospitalization significantly more than natural immunity from prior infection alone, according to a study published Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers analyzed the risk of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization among four groups of individuals: vaccinated with and without prior infection and unvaccinated with and without prior infection. The study case data from about 1.1 million cases in California and New York between the end of May and mid-November 2021. Hospitalization data was available from California only.

Overall, COVID-19 case and hospitalization rates were highest among unvaccinated people who did not have a previous diagnosis.

At first, those with a prior infection had higher case rates than those who were vaccinated with no history of prior infection. As the delta variant became predominant in the U.S. in later months, this shifted and people who survived a previous infection had lower case rates than those who were vaccinated alone, according to the study.

Tracking the omicron surge

"Experts first looked at previous infections confirmed with laboratory test by the spring of 2021, when the alpha variant was predominant across the country. Before the delta variant, COVID-19 vaccination resulted in better protection against a subsequent infection than surviving a previous infection. When looking at the summer and the fall of 2021, when delta became dominant in this country, however, surviving a previous infection now provided greater protection against subsequent infection than vaccination," Dr. Benjamin Silk, lead for CDC's surveillance and analytics on the Epi-Task Force, said on a call with media Wednesday.

However, this shift coincides with a time of waning vaccine immunity in many people. The study did not factor the time from vaccination — and potential waning immunity — into the analysis. The study also does not capture the effect booster doses may have and was conducted before the emergence of the omicron variant.

Throughout the period of the study, risk of COVID-19 hospitalization was significantly higher among unvaccinated people with no previous COVID-19 diagnosis than any other group.

"Together, the totality of the evidence suggests really that both vaccination and having survived COVID each provide protection against subsequent reinfection, infection and hospitalization," said Dr. Eli Rosenberg, New York State Deputy Director for Science. "Having COVID the first time carries with it significant risks, and becoming vaccinated and staying up-to-date with boosters really is the only safe choice for preventing COVID infection and severe disease."

Experts also noted that characteristics of variants change, including how well they affect immunity from prior infections.

The CDC said in a statement it will publish additional data on COVID-19 vaccines and boosters against the dominant omicron variant later this week.

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♪ SOLEDAD: I’M SOLEDAD’O'BRIEN. WELCOME TO "MATTER OF FA."CT THE COVID VARIANT OMICROISN TRIGGERING FEAR AND RAISING CONCERNS ABOUT HOW IT SPREADS AND WHETHER VACCINES AND TREATMENTS WILL BE EFFECVETI AGAINST IT. WHEN COVID-19 VACCINESIRST F ROLLED OUT, WEST VIRGINIA LED THE WAY WITH ITS SPEEDY DISTRIBUTION. ABOUT 95% OF WEST VIRGINIANS 65 AND OLDER HAVE RECEIVED AT LSTEA ONE DOSE. BUT NOW, RATES AMONG YOUERNG GROUPS DRAMATICALLY TRAIL THE REST OF THE COUNTRY. ONLY FOUR OUT OF 10 ADULTS AGED 18 TO 64 ARE FULLY VACCINATED. SO, HOW DID WEST VIRGINIA GO FROM BEING NUMBER ONE TO NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE PA?CK OUR CORRESPONDENT JULIA NSU TRAVELED ACROSS WEST VIRGINITOA LEARN MORE. JULIA: THE AIR IS CRISP ON THIS MID-NOVEMBER D IAYN THE MOUNTAIN STATE. FALL HAS TAKEN UP RESIDENCE HERE WITH IT, A KIND OF PANDEMIC FATIGUE I DISCOVER ABOUT 20 MILES NORTHWEST OF CHARLESNTO WHEN I STOP TO TALK WITH SEVERAL PEOPLE WAITING FOR THEIR RAPID TEST RESULTS IN A PARKING LOT. CAN I ASK IF YOU’VE BEEN VACCINATED? >> WE HAVE NOT BEEN VACCINED.AT JULIA: YOU HAVE NOT BEEN VACCINATED. WHAT’S THE ONE REASON YOU’RE NOT VACCINAT?ED LIKE, WHAT CONCERNS U?YO I’M CONCERNED THAT THE VACNECI WAS NOT WORKED ON LONG ENOUGH. JULIA: CONCERNS THAT THE VACNECI HASN’T BEEN WORKED ON LONG ENOUGH AND MIGHT NOT BE SA IFES A COMMON REFRAIN HERE. WEST VIRGINIA’S COVID CZAR DR. CLAY MARSH HAS HEARD IT L.AL DR. MARSH: FOR THE PEOPLE ATTH ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE SPEED OF THE MESSENR GERNA VACCINES, THESE ARE AMONG THE SAFEST AND BY FAR THE MOST EFFECTIVE VACCINES THAT HAVE EVER BEEN PRODUCED. JULIA: ABOUT 10 MONTHS AGO, MARSH’S HOME STATE WAS LEADING THE NATION IN GETTING SHOTINS ARMS, DRIVEN BY THE URGENCTOY PROTECT THE STATE’S AGING POPULATI.ON WITH ONE IN FIVE RESIDENTS OVER 64, MARSH GAVE ALL PHARMACIES , BIG AND SMALL, THE GREENLIGHT TO GIVE SHOTASS SOON THEAS VACCINES WERE AVAILABLE. LYNNE FRUTH: I KWNO THAT IT IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THIS COMMUNITY. JULIA: PHARMACY OWNER LYNNE FRUTH SAYS THAT DREOV VACCINATION RATES UP AT FIRST. LY NNE FRUTH: I LIKE TO SAY WE’RE FIRST TO WORST AS FAR AS THE VACCINE. THE STATE DID A PHENOMENAL JOB ROLLING OUT THE INITIAL VACCINE. JULIA: WHICH MONTH DID YOU SEE A VISIBLE DOWNTICK? LYNNE FRUTH: IN MAY, IT JUST DROPPED OFF A CLF.IF JULIA: THE RUSH ENDED WHEN EVERY WILLING TAKER HAD ENBE VACCINATED. NOW, THE FOCUS IS ON THE BOOSTER SHOTS. >> YOU JUST GOT YOUR BOOSTER, HOW DO YOU FEEL? FRANK BAIRD: OH, I FEEL FINE. LIKE I SAID, I’VE LIVED THROUGH TWO YEARS OF THIS, AND IT AIN’T GOING TO KILL YMEET. JULIA: FOR FRANK BAIRD AND HIS WIFE, WHO HAVE BEEN MARRIED FOR 59 YEARS, THE TRIP TO THE PHARMACY FOR A SHOT IS JUST ETH SMART THING TO DO. FRANK BAIRD: EVERYBODY IN OUR FAMILY HAS BEEN INOCULAT.ED JULIA: BUT THE BAIRD FAMY ISIL THE EXCEPTION, NOT THE RULE. ACROSS WEST VIRGINIA, ONLY 41% OF RESIDENTS ARE FLYUL VACCINEDAT JIM HOYER HEADS UP WEST VIRGINIA’S PANDEMIC RESNSEPO TASK FOR.CE HIS HIGHEST PRIORITIES, TO SUPPORT HOSPITALS WITH HIGH PATIENT LOADS, DISTRIBUTE BOOSTER SHOTS TO COMMUNITIES, AND TO COMBAT THE MISINFORTIMA ONLINE, THAT HE SAYS HAS FUELED VACCINSKE EPTICISM, ALONG WITH RESIDENTS’ NEARLY INGRAINED APPREHENSION OF AUTHITOR JIM HOYER: WITH THIS NATURAL NDTEENCY TO HAVE HESITANCY AND TRUSTING THE GOVERNMENT THAT WE IN THE APPALACHIAN REGIOHAN HAD SINCE -- I GO BACK TO THE MINE WARS. JULIA: IN TIGHTLY-ITKN COMMUNITIES, FACE-TO-FACE CONVERSATIONS SEEM THE MOST EFFECTIVE. LYNNE FRUTH: AN ELDERLY LADY CAME THROUGH A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO, TESTED POSITIVE. I NOTICED THAT SHE WAS UNVACCINATED, AND I WALKEDUT O TO HER CAR. IT WAS SOMEBODY THAT I HAD MET IN THE COMMUNITY, AND I JUST SAID, I’M SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU. JULIA: WHAT DO YOU SAY TO PEOPLE WHO THINK, OH, YOU’RE JUST SOMEBODY ON THE INTERN?ET LYNNE FRUTH: WELL, I’M FROM HERE. WE AT FRUTH PHARMACY HAVE GIVEN 30,000 TO 40,000 SHOTS, AND WE’VE NOT HAD ANY SIOUSER ADVERSE REACONS.TI JULIA: PHARMACT ISDREW MASSEY HAS GIVEN 25,000 SHOTS IN E WESTERN REGION OF THE STATE. HE REGULARLY GOES TO TESTING SITES AND SCHOOLS TO SPEAKO T THE UNVACCINATED, ESPECIALLY THE YOUNGER ON.ES DREW MASSEY: YOU KNOW, THEY FEEL LIKE THEY’RE BULLETPROOF. D ANSOMETIMES IT TAKES SOMEONE CLOSE TO YOU BEING DRASTICALLY AFFECTED OR BEING HOSPITALIZED BEFORE IT REALLY BRINGS IT HE.OM DR. MARSH: IT’S BEEN SAID THAT A SINGLE DEATH IS A STORY AND A MILLION DEATHS ARE A STATIST.IC COVID IS MADE TO INFECPEONT AFTER PERSON, AND IT'S’NOT UP TO US TO EXPECT COVID TO GET LESS FIT, B IUTT’S UP TO US TO GET MORE FIT, TO BE ABLE TO BECOME FIREWALLS. JULIA: AN UPHILL CLIMB IN THE MOUNTAIN STATE, WHERE CASES ARE RISING, AND WHERE MIXED ATTITUDES THREENAT PROGRESS AGAINST THE PANDEMIC. FOR "MATTER OF FACT,

Related video above: How West Virginia went from first to the worst in vaccination ratesWest Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said he was feeling better on Thursday, two days after a COVID-19 diagnosis, according to a statement from the governor's office."Thankfully, I am feeling much better today," Justice said. "I desperately want to get out of this house and back to serving our state. I am not one to lay around."The governor continues to experience mild symptoms and his monoclonal antibody treatment was received well, the statement said."Without question, the fact that I chose to get vaccinated and boosted saved my life, that's all there is to it. So, now more than ever, I strongly encourage all West Virginians to protect themselves and their families by getting vaccinated," Justice added.The 70-year-old woke Tuesday morning with congestion and a cough, eventually developing a headache and fever, according to a statement Tuesday. By late afternoon, his blood pressure and heart rate were elevated and he had a high fever.Results from a rapid test in the morning came back negative but a PCR test came back positive, said Justice, who was forced to postpone a State of the State address to the West Virginia legislature.Justice described feeling "extremely unwell" on Tuesday, and chief of staff Brian Abraham told the West Virginia Gazette Mail in an interview Wednesday that his symptoms were apparent.Justice, a Republican re-elected in 2020, has been a fervent advocate for vaccinations and booster doses throughout the pandemic, often using direct language when speaking to constituents about the benefits of inoculation."If you're out there in West Virginia, and you're not vaccinated today, what's the downside?" Justice said in July. "If all of us were vaccinated, do you not believe that less people would die? If you're not vaccinated, you're part of the problem rather than part of the solution."

Related video above: How West Virginia went from first to the worst in vaccination rates

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said he was feeling better on Thursday, two days after a COVID-19 diagnosis, according to a statement from the governor's office.

"Thankfully, I am feeling much better today," Justice said. "I desperately want to get out of this house and back to serving our state. I am not one to lay around."

The governor continues to experience mild symptoms and his monoclonal antibody treatment was received well, the statement said.

"Without question, the fact that I chose to get vaccinated and boosted saved my life, that's all there is to it. So, now more than ever, I strongly encourage all West Virginians to protect themselves and their families by getting vaccinated," Justice added.

The 70-year-old woke Tuesday morning with congestion and a cough, eventually developing a headache and fever, according to a statement Tuesday. By late afternoon, his blood pressure and heart rate were elevated and he had a high fever.

Results from a rapid test in the morning came back negative but a PCR test came back positive, said Justice, who was forced to postpone a State of the State address to the West Virginia legislature.

Justice described feeling "extremely unwell" on Tuesday, and chief of staff Brian Abraham told the West Virginia Gazette Mail in an interview Wednesday that his symptoms were apparent.

Justice, a Republican re-elected in 2020, has been a fervent advocate for vaccinations and booster doses throughout the pandemic, often using direct language when speaking to constituents about the benefits of inoculation.

"If you're out there in West Virginia, and you're not vaccinated today, what's the downside?" Justice said in July. "If all of us were vaccinated, do you not believe that less people would die? If you're not vaccinated, you're part of the problem rather than part of the solution."