Coronavirus Watch: CDC expected to give final OK to boosters for all adults

The FDA early Friday authorized boosters for all adults at least six months after initial shots with the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines.

Anyone who received a single shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is already eligible for a booster two months after their initial dose.

The authorization expands eligibility for boosters, which had been limited to adults 65 and older, those with higher risk of severe infection or whose jobs put them at increased risk.

An advisory committee to the CDC is expected to meet Friday afternoon to review data on boosters and is also likely to sign off on broader use of booster doses, followed by the CDC director. Boosters will then be available immediately at no cost.

It's Friday, and this is Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's more news to know:

• Up to 1.6 million people in the U.S. who have had COVID-19 experienced a loss or change in their sense of smell that lasted more than six months, according to a study published Thursday. 
• Mask-wearing and physical distancing reduce COVID-19 incidence by 53% and 25% respectively, according to a paper published Thursday in the peer-reviewed medical journal BMJ.
• A hospital could not be forced to treat a COVID-19 patient with ivermectin, a Texas appeals court ruled Thursday. The anti-parasitic drug has not been approved by the FDA for treating COVID-19.
• Almost one-third of health care workers were not fully vaccinated by mid-September, according to a study published Wednesday.
• Austria on Friday announced a new nationwide lockdown and plans for vaccination mandates as cases surge.

Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 47.5 million COVID-19 cases and 768,800 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there have been more than 256.3 million cases and more than 5.1 million deaths. About 69% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and about 59% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Among U.S. adults, 82% have received at least one shot, and about 71% are fully vaccinated.

Tracking the pandemic: See the numbers in your area here. See where cases are rising here. See vaccination rates here. And here, compare vaccinations rates worldwide and see which countries are using which vaccines.

– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck