Rob Stein - NPR

The vaccines were approved for people 12 and older and under an emergency use authorization for children ages 6 months to 11 years old.

In July, coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and emergency room visits have inched up.

The subvariants — called BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 — appear to be among the most adept yet at evading immunity from vaccination and previous infection.

The Biden administration is scrapping plans to offer COVID boosters for people under 50 this summer. Instead officials will push for an earlier release of the next generation boosters in the fall.

COVID-19 vaccinations for children younger than 5 could start right after the Juneteenth holiday.

The Food and Drug Administration expanded authorization of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID vaccine to enable kids ages 5 to 11 who were vaccinated at least five months ago to get a third shot.

The company said two doses of the vaccine administered 28 days apart triggered levels of antibodies equivalent to what has protected older children and adults.

Despite the availability of life-saving COVID-19 vaccines, so many people died in the second year of the pandemic in the U.S. that the nation's life expectancy dropped for a second year in a row last year, according to a new analysis.

Federal health officials are convening with outside advisers April 6 to talk about a vaccine plan, whether that's another booster in the fall, an omicron shot or one that targets more than one strain.

The virus, known as BA.2, is a strain of the highly contagious omicron variant that appears to spread even more easily — about 30% more easily.