• The US FDA announces a meeting on 26 October to discuss a request to amend Pfizer/BioNTech’s Emergency Use Authorization for their COVID-19 mRNA vaccine to include children ages 5 through 11 years. Source
• Moderna issues a press release to announce that the US CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices unanimously recommended the company’s half-dose coronavirus booster for people aged 65 and older and people aged 18 to 64 who are at high risk of severe COVID-19 and/or have institutional or occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Source
• In India, where 30 percent of the country’s 900 million eligible people are fully vaccinated, a billion doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered. Source
• Melbourne, Australia, home to the world’s longest lockdowns (262 days since March of 2020), has emerged from its latest 78-day lockdown. Source
• Sweden extends its pause of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine in people under age 31 due to concerns over rare cardiac side effects, and removes a recommendation for testing fully vaccinated people. Source