• Video
  • Shop
  • Culture
  • Family
  • Wellness
  • Food
  • Living
  • Style
  • Travel
  • News
  • Book Club
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your US State Privacy Rights
  • Children's Online Privacy Policy
  • Interest-Based Ads
  • Terms of Use
  • Do Not Sell My Info
  • Contact Us
  • © 2026 ABC News
ABC News

Jesse Jackson, wife hospitalized with COVID-19

PHOTO: Civil Rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson addresses hundreds of fellow protesters on Capitol Hill to demand stronger voting rights, an end to the filibuster, immigration reform, a $15 minimum wage on Aug. 2, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
3:00
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, FILE
Several southern states' ICUs near capacity
By Emily Shapiro, Julia Jacobo, Morgan Winsor, Erin Schumaker, Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: August 16, 2021, 4:47 PM

The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 628,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 59.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Latest headlines:

  • Over 880,000 Moderna vaccine doses donated by US arrive in Kenya
  • US surgeon general defends plan for booster shots
  • Jesse Jackson hospitalized with COVID
  • US sees highest daily case total in nearly 7 months 
Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.

Aug 16, 2021 4:47 PM

Pfizer/BioNTech submit early booster shot data to FDA

Pfizer/BioNTech have submitted early booster shot data to the Food and Drug Administration.

PHOTO: A woman receives the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease vaccine as a booster dose at Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pa., Aug. 14, 2021.
Hannah Beier/Reuters
A woman receives the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease vaccine as a booster dose at Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pa., Aug. 14, 2021.
Hannah Beier/Reuters

Phase 1 data found that people given a third shot eight to nine months after their primary doses had a boosted immune response and higher neutralizing antibody levels against the delta variant.

Pfizer/BioNTech plan to continue to study booster shots and submit additional data to the FDA.

It's not clear when or if the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might recommend booster doses for all. Only severely immunocompromised people are currently eligible.

-ABC News' Sony Salzman


Aug 16, 2021 3:43 PM

Vaccines mandated for all New York health workers

All health workers in New York state, public and private, must get vaccinated by Sept. 27, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.

PHOTO: A health center advertises for the COVID-19 vaccine in a neighborhood near Brighton Beach on July 22, 2021, in the Brooklyn borough of New York.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images, FILE
A health center advertises for the COVID-19 vaccine in a neighborhood near Brighton Beach on July 22, 2021, in the Brooklyn borough of New York.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images, FILE

This includes staff at hospitals and long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, adult care and other congregate care settings.

Seventy-five percent of the state's hospital workers and 68% of nursing home workers are already vaccinated.

-ABC News' Aaron Katersky


Aug 16, 2021 3:19 PM

Doctor talks treating kids with RSV, COVID-19

As COVID-19 cases surge pediatricians are experiencing a first: sick children facing both respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and COVID-19.

PHOTO: The emergency entrance is seen at Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, Fla., Aug. 14, 2021.
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images via Shutterstock
The emergency entrance is seen at Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, Fla., Aug. 14, 2021.
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images via Shutterstock

"We've not seen this before -- we have two very highly contagious respiratory viruses circulating at the same time, particularly throughout the South around Texas and neighboring states," Dr. Jim Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief at Texas Children's Hospital, told ABC News Live on Monday.

Infants, young children and older adults are most at-risk for RSV, a respiratory virus that's usually more prevalent in the fall and winter. RSV kills 100 to 500 children under 5 each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It's not surprising now to see children being impacted with both viruses, particularly infants and young children who are most susceptible to respiratory syncytial virus," Versalovic said.

He said in "recent weeks we've had 30% or more of our pediatric ICU beds [filled] with RSV infections," including some children also with COVID-19, which "could "mean more severe respiratory illness."

"We do know how to treat these children with RSV and with COVID. And so, for now we're managing that, but it is certainly a new challenge for us," Versalovic said.

PHOTO: Parents walk their children on the first day of school at West Tampa Elementary School in Tampa, Fla., Aug. 10, 2021.
Octavio Jones/Reuters
Parents walk their children on the first day of school at West Tampa Elementary School in Tampa, Fla., Aug. 10, 2021.
Octavio Jones/Reuters


Aug 16, 2021 1:57 PM

Positivity rate climbs to 25% at Children's Hospital New Orleans

The positivity rate has climbed to 25% at Children's Hospital New Orleans, Dr. Mark Kline, the hospital's physician-in-chief, told ABC News on Sunday.

The hospital had 12 pediatric patients on Sunday. Half of them were under 2 years old, Kline said.

Five of the 12 patients in the hospital were in the ICU: an 8-week-old, a 3-month-old, a 13-month-old, a 23-month-old and a 17-year-old, Kline said.

"As we see more children infected and ill with COVID-19, it occurs to me that our children have become the collateral damage of many adults who frame refusal of masks and vaccines as an issue of personal freedom rather than the common-sense public health measures that they are," Kline said.

"Children currently have no way out of this pandemic other than through the advocacy and personal responsibility of their parents and all adults," Kline added. "So far, we are failing them miserably."

-ABC News' Mark Abdelmalek


Aug 23, 2021 8:39 AM

Over 880,000 Moderna vaccine doses donated by US arrive in Kenya

More than 880,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States arrived in Kenya on Monday morning.

The 880,460 doses were given to the East African nation by the U.S. government via the global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, according to a press release from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), which is leading vaccine procurement and delivery efforts on behalf of COVAX. It is the first of two shipments, totaling 1.76 million donate doses.

PHOTO: A UNICEF worker checks boxes of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine after their arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 23, 2021.
Brian Inganga/AP
A UNICEF worker checks boxes of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine after their arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 23, 2021. The first time that the Moderna vaccine has been received in Kenya, 880,460 doses were delivered forming the first of two shipments totalling 1.76 million doses which were donated by the United States via the the global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, according to UNICEF, which transported the doses.
Brian Inganga/AP

The donation marks the first time that Kenya has received the Moderna vaccine, widening the portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines available for the country's ongoing rollout of its national immunization campaign. All Kenyans over the age of 18 are now eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Kenya aims to vaccinate 10 million of its 53 million people by the end of the year.

So far, Kenya has reported more than 229,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including at least 4,497 deaths, according to the latest data from the Kenyan Ministry of Health.


GMA Newsletters

Sign up for our newsletters to get GMA delivered to your inbox every morning!

Up Next in wellness

PHOTO: Stock photo of a doctor holding the hands of a young patient.

Adolescent and young adult cancers increase risk of developing future cancers

April 13, 2026
PHOTO: Elias Manolis, whose kidney condition worsened by 13, found hope when Tim Fitzpatrick, who is an ideal match, stepped forward after seeing his family's plea.

Teen with kidney disease finds donor living minutes away

April 10, 2026
PHOTO: Natasha Allen, who passed away of synovial sarcoma in August of 2025, was a leading in the voice the adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer community.

Her battle with cancer went viral. After her death, the impact of her advocacy is still felt

April 8, 2026

The latest lifestyle and entertainment news and inspiration for how to live your best life - all from Good Morning America.
  • Contests
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Do Not Sell My Info
  • Children’s Online Privacy Policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Your US State Privacy Rights
  • Interest-Based Ads
  • About Nielsen Measurement
  • Press
  • Feedback
  • Shop FAQs
  • ABC News
  • ABC
  • All Videos
  • All Topics
  • Sitemap

© 2026 ABC News
  • Privacy Policy— 
  • Your US State Privacy Rights— 
  • Children's Online Privacy Policy— 
  • Interest-Based Ads— 
  • Terms of Use— 
  • Do Not Sell My Info— 
  • Contact Us— 

© 2026 ABC News