The latest on the Covid-19 pandemic in the US

More than 675,000 people have died of Covid-19 in the United States, surpassing the country’s estimated death toll from the 1918 flu pandemic.

According to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, at least 675,446 people have died of Covid-19 in the US. With a total population of about 328 million, that works out to more than 1 death per every 500 people.

An estimated 675,000 people in the US died in the 1918 flu pandemic, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A century ago, the US population was closer to 103 million, which would translate to about 1 flu death per every 150 people in 1918.

Some more context: Globally, about 4.7 million people have died of Covid-19, and the US accounts for about one in seven total Covid-19 deaths, JHU data shows. But during the 1918 flu pandemic, the US accounted for about 1% of the 50 million total deaths worldwide, according to the CDC.

Currently, about 1,926 people are dying of Covid-19 each day in the US, JHU data shows.

More than a third of total Covid-19 deaths in the US occurred between December 2020 and February 2021, according to JHU data.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is the most frequently administered, and it has become especially predominant in recent months, according to data published Monday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since the US Food and Drug Administration fully approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine about a month ago, it has accounted for nearly 70% of all vaccine doses administered.

Overall, more than 221 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been administered, accounting for about 57% of all doses administered.

Since the FDA authorized the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for emergency use in children age 12-15 in May, it has accounted for about 65% of all vaccine doses administered.

Here's some more of the latest data on vaccination efforts in the US:

More than 20,000 new cases of Covid-19 were reported among public school students in Texas, for the week ending Sept. 12, according to data released Friday by the Texas Education Agency. 

At least 23,779 students and 3,851 staff members tested positive for Covid-19, a decline from the previous week, when more than 40,000 students and 5,000 staff members tested positive.

Public schools are required to report positive Covid-19 cases on school campuses. The state's dashboard is updated each Friday with data from the previous week.

Cumulatively, since the dashboard started tracking on Aug. 13, there have been 126,687 students and 24,476 staff members in the state of Texas who have tested positive for Covid-19. Around 5.3 million students are enrolled for public school in Texas as of January 2021.

The three districts with the highest number of student cases from Sept 6 to Sept. 12 were Cypress-Fairbanks, with 699 cases; Conroe ISD, with 665 cases; and Katy ISD, with 500 cases. Masks are optional in all three districts.

The United States plans to ease travel restrictions on visitors from Europe and the United Kingdom starting in November, a person familiar with the matter says.

The United States will require that adult foreign nationals traveling to the United States be fully vaccinated, another source familiar with the matter said, implementing what the source described as strict protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19 from passengers who are flying internationally to the US.

The White House was preparing to make the announcement later Monday, including additional elements to the plan for international travel.

The lifting of restrictions on travel to the United States will come as welcome news to thousands European citizens with families in the United States who have been kept apart for almost the entire pandemic.

It will also be greeted favorably by the travel industry, which had been lobbying the federal government to lift some of the rules preventing international tourism.

Airlines, hotels and hospitality groups had all voiced support for allowing vaccinated tourists from abroad back into the United States.

Read more about the measures here.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration and a board member at Pfizer, said on CNBC’s Squawk Box Monday that a vaccine for children could be available as early as the end of October. 

He also added that it is a 10 microgram dose, “so it’s effectively the same vaccine that’s available for adults and children over the age of 12, just in a lower dose.” 

Gottlieb's comments come after Pfizer said on Monday a Phase 2/3 trial showed its Covid-19 vaccine was safe and generated a "robust" antibody response in children ages 5 to 11.

These are the first such results released for this age group for a US Covid-19 vaccine, and the data has not yet been peer-reviewed or published. Pfizer said it plans to submit to the FDA for emergency use authorization soon.

If the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is authorized for children ages five to 11, more than 28 million additional people will be eligible to be vaccinated against Covid-19, according to a CNN analysis of data from the US Census Bureau.  

Currently, about 85% of the US population is eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine. But the five to 11 age group represents about 9% of the total United States population, which would bump it up to 94%.

According to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 63.8% of the total US population has received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine and 54.6% of the population is fully vaccinated. 

But adolescents are the least vaccinated group. About 57% of adolescents age 12 to 17 have received at least one dose and 46% are fully vaccinated, according to a CNN analysis of CDC data. Children 16 and up were included in the initial emergency use authorization of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and children ages 12 to 15 were added in May, more than four months ago.  

Covid-19 cases among children have increased 240% since July and recently hit a record high, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. As of Sept. 9, nearly 5.3 million children have tested positive for Covid-19. 

In a news release Monday, Pfizer said that trial data shows that its Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 is safe and generated a “robust” antibody response. They plan to submit to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization soon. 

The percentage of adolescents who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 is inching toward the halfway point. About 46% of all 12- to 17-year-olds in the United States are now fully vaccinated — an increase from earlier this month.

Out of the roughly 25 million 12- to 17-year-olds total in the United States, more than 11 million are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as of Monday morning, according to a CNN analysis of data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 14 million adolescents have completed at least one dose of vaccine as of Monday morning, the CDC data shows. That number corresponds to about 57% of all 12- to 17-year-olds in the United States. 

The latest data shows an increase in vaccinations among adolescents compared with earlier this month. On Sept. 9, about 10.8 million or 43% of all adolescents ages 12 to 17 were fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Vaccine makers are also working toward a Covid-19 shot for younger children. A Phase 2/3 trial of Pfizer and BioNTech's two-dose coronavirus vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 showed it is safe and generated a "robust" antibody response, Pfizer released in a news release on Monday.

A Phase 2/3 trial of Pfizer/BioNTech’s two-dose Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 showed it is safe and generated a “robust” antibody response, Pfizer said in a news release on Monday.

These are the first such results released for a US Covid-19 vaccine in this age group, and the data has not yet been peer-reviewed or published. Pfizer said it plans to submit to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization soon.

The trial, which included 2,268 participants ages 5 to 11, used a two-dose regimen of the vaccine administered 21 days apart. This trial used a 10 microgram dose – smaller than the 30 microgram dose that has been administered to people 12 and older.

“The 10 microgram dose was carefully selected as the preferred dose for safety, tolerability and immunogenicity in children 5 to 11 years of age,” Pfizer said.

Participants’ immune responses were measured by looking at neutralizing antibody levels in their blood and comparing those levels to a control group of 16- to 25-year-olds who were given a two-dose regimen with the larger 30 microgram dose. Pfizer said the levels compared well with older people who received the larger dose, demonstrating a “strong immune response in this cohort of children one month after the second dose.” 

Pfizer said these data will be included in a “near-term submission” for EUA and the companies will continue to accumulate the data needed to file for full FDA approval for people ages 5 to 11. The vaccine is currently approved for people age 16 and older. It is authorized for emergency use for people ages 12 to 15.

Pfizer said it is expecting trial data for children as young as six months “as soon as the fourth quarter of this year.”

“Since July, pediatric cases of COVID-19 have risen by about 240 percent in the U.S. – underscoring the public health need for vaccination. These trial results provide a strong foundation for seeking authorization of our vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old, and we plan to submit them to the FDA and other regulators with urgency," Albert Bourla, chair and chief executive officer of Pfizer, said in the statement.