1. FDA Authorizes Pfizer-BioNTech Booster for 12- to 15-Year-Olds — U.S. health regulators cleared use of a Covid-19 booster from Pfizer Inc. PFE -3.62% and BioNTech SE BNTX -6.99% in adolescents 12 to 15 years old, expanding access to an extra dose that could bolster the fight against the Omicron variant.
For anyone now eligible to get the extra dose, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the boosters could be administered five months after their second shot, instead of the six months previously set. The agency also cleared a third dose for certain children with compromised immune systems age 5 to 11. “With the current wave of the Omicron variant, it’s critical that we continue to take effective, lifesaving preventative measures such as primary vaccination and boosters, mask wearing and social distancing,” said acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock.
2. U.S. Covid-19 Infections Top One Million After Holiday Backlog — the U.S. reported a record 1.08 million Covid-19 infections on Monday as most states worked to clear backlogs after pausing during the New Year’s holiday. The reports pushed the seven-day average of daily reported infections to 480,273, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. That level is nearly double the peak reached at the height of last winter’s case surge. Hospitalizations for confirmed or suspected Covid-19 cases reached a seven-day average of 105,138 on Tuesday, according to data posted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That is up 51% in the past two weeks but below the pandemic peak of 137,510 on Jan. 10, 2021. While Covid-19 tests remain in short supply in much of the U.S., testing was less robust last year, complicating comparisons between pandemic surges.
3. Fed Minutes Point to Possible Rate Increase in March — Minutes of their Dec. 14-15 meeting, released Wednesday, showed officials believed that rising inflation and a very tight labor market could call for lifting short-term rates “sooner or at a faster pace than participants had earlier anticipated.” Most central bank officials, in projections released after that meeting, penciled in at least three quarter-percentage-point rate increases this year. In September, around half of those officials thought rate increases could wait until 2023.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

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