Coronavirus watch: Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine for 16- and 17-year-olds wins FDA authorization

The FDA on Thursday authorized booster shots of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for 16- and 17-year-olds at least six months after their initial doses.

The third dose is identical to the other two. Booster doses are already encouraged for people over 18 who had their previous Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines at least six months earlier or the Johnson & Johnson shot at least two months ago. The U.S. government has pre-purchased enough doses to provide boosters free of charge to anyone who qualifies.

“The booster vaccination increases the level of immunity and dramatically improves protection against COVID-19 in all age groups studied so far,” Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, said in a prepared statement. “It is important to offer everyone a booster, particularly against the background of the newly emerging variants such as Omicron.”

– Karen Weintraub

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

• A Massachusetts man who used stolen identities to fraudulently apply for pandemic-related unemployment benefits has been sentenced to more than three years in prison. Wagner Sozi, 33, was also ordered to pay about $110,000 in forfeiture and restitution, the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston announced.
• Federal health officials have authorized a new COVID-19 antibody drug for people with serious health problems or allergies who can’t get adequate protection from vaccination. The AstraZeneca drug is the first such treatment intended for long-term prevention rather than a short-term treatment.
• Will the world decide the pandemic is over when WHO finds the virus is no longer an emergency of international concern? It could still be a major concern in some nations. "There is not going to be one day when someone says, ‘OK, the pandemic is over,’” says Dr. Chris Woods, an infectious disease expert at Duke University.

📈Today's numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 49.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 793,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 268 million cases and 5.2 million deaths. More than 200 million Americans – 60% of the population – are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

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.

– John Bacon, Paste BN @realjohnbacon