Atlanta, December 13 (RHC)-- In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made the bivalent COVID-19 booster available for children and babies 6 months to 5 years old, following approval last week by the FDA. 

The booster was formulated to tackle Omicron subvariants, though around 90% of children in this age group have yet to get any COVID vaccines.  This comes as COVID numbers are on the rise, with daily deaths averaging over 460, around 1.5 times higher than the previous week, and hospitalization levels not seen since last winter’s surge. 

Officials across the United States are now urging people to wear masks while indoors to protect against the “tripledemic” of COVID, flu and RSV.

In related news, a recent U.S. congressional report accuses the Trump administration of a “persistent pattern of political interference [which] undermined the nation’s ability to respond” to the pandemic.  The report says the U.S. was vastly “underprepared” for a public health crisis, due in part to “chronic underfunding and long-standing health disparities.” 

COVID has claimed the lives of more than one million people in the U.S. in less than three years.