WH urges vaccination before Halloween

The White House on Tuesday said eligible Americans should get the updated COVID-19 boosters by Halloween to have maximum protection against the coronavirus as it warned of a "challenging" virus season ahead.

Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, said "So, my message today from this briefing room is very simple: don't wait. Get your new flu shot and get your new COVID shot today. If Americans did that, we could save hundreds of lives each day this winter. As the Commonwealth Fund just put out a new report, a new analysis. They estimate that we can save as many as 90,000 lives and nearly a million hospitalizations if most eligible Americans got their updated vaccines."

So far the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says only about 11.5 million Americans have received the updated shots, which are meant to provide a boost of protection against both the original strain of COVID-19 and the BA.5 variant that is dominant around the world. More than 330 people die on average each day of COVID-19, according to CDC data, with the U.S. death toll standing at over 1.05 million.