Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Tweaked boosters rolled out for Americans 12 and older last month, modified to target today's most common and contagious variant. The latest move may expand protection before an expected winter wave.

People can get the Moderna booster if they're 18 or older, and the Pfizer-BioNTech version if they're 12 and up. In both cases, they must wait at least two months since their last COVID vaccine.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has signed off on updated versions of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines that target the original virus and the omicron subvariants.

The proposed changes at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention come amid ongoing criticism of the agency's response to COVID-19, monkeypox and other public health threats.

CDC advisers are recommending the use of two separate COVID-19 vaccines for the youngest children made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, paving the way for vaccine rollout as early as next week.

The count of pediatric cases under investigation has grown since the agency's last update, but most of the increase represents previous cases that are just now being reported.

The rate of U.S. gun homicides jumped nearly 35% in 2020 to the highest level in more than 25 years. And gaps widened for groups already at the highest risk, especially Black men and boys.

Masks are now optional in many airports, subways and buses. But to understand why, you have to go back to 1944 when the Public Health Service Act was passed.

So many people caught the omicron variant over the winter that almost 60% of everyone in the U.S. — including most children — now have antibodies to the virus in their blood, the CDC said Tuesday.

A cluster of children in Alabama were found to have liver damage.