(Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc. asked the U.S. to approve a third shot of its Covid-19 vaccine for all adults, a request cleared Tuesday by Canadian regulators. China’s Sinvovac Biotech Ltd. said preliminary data from an international trial showed its shot is safe for children as young as 3. 

Hong Kong ordered some airport workers to get a booster. An extra shot is also necessary for seniors in France who want to visit restaurants and museums. The requirement comes as cases rise in France and other European countries.

Daily infections in the U.S. are still too high, according to White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci, to pull back on mitigation measures such as mask-wearing. But in Florida, Miami-Dade County public school officials said students can opt out of the district’s mask mandate because cases have plummeted. 

Key Developments:

• Virus Tracker: Cases top 250.7 million; deaths above 5.06 million
• Vaccine Tracker: More than 7.34 billion shots given
• Aaron Rodgers can help defeat vaccine hesitancy: Stephen Carter
• Long Covid’s scary, potentially lifelong consequences
• Pandemic blows up old business habits, opening path to boom
• Why are cases rising across Europe? It’s complicated
• Vaccine mandates are essential to stopping Covid-19: Editorial

French Seniors Need Boosters for ‘Passport’ (4:30 a.m. HK)

People in France over the age of 65 will have to get a third booster shot to remain eligible for a vaccine passport needed to gain access to restaurants, museums, long-distance trains and other public places, President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised speech. The new rule takes effect on Dec. 15. Infections are rising in France and other European countries.

Miami Schools Drop Mask Mandate (2:35 p.m. NY)

Parents of Miami-Dade County public school students can opt out of the district’s mask mandate, the Miami Herald reported, citing Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. The eased protocols are due to the plummeting number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths in South Florida since the delta variant caused a spike in infections over the summer, the newspaper said.

Fauci Seeks to Prevent Winter Surge (1:20 p.m. NY)

Stepping up the rate of vaccinations and boosters can help avoid a holiday surge in new cases that have dropped to a plateau of about 70,000 a day, White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci said.

While hospitalizations and deaths have fallen in the U.S., it’s far too early to pull back on mitigation measures such as mask-wearing, Fauci said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power with David Westin.” 

“If we get the overwhelming proportion of unvaccinated people vaccinated, and we get those who are vaccinated and eligible to get a booster,” Fauci said, “we can go a long way to preventing a new surge as we go into the winter.”

Mauritius Shuts Schools as Cases Rise (12:10 p.m. NY)

The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius has shut schools and will revert to online classes from Thursday after an increase in Covid-19 cases in the community. In the week through Nov. 9, new asymptomatic cases rose to 809 from 620 in the prior seven days, according to Health Ministry data.

Admission to public hospitals advanced to 61 from 53.

“There are risks that transmission will increase,” Education Minister Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun said in a video disseminated by the Port Louis-based Government Information Service.

Since Oct. 18, the ministry registered 1,856 cases in pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions, she said. As at Nov. 9, there was a total of 866,610 people who completed inoculation, representing about 68.4% of the population.

U.S. to Buy 1.4 Million Merck Pill Doses (11:20 a.m. NY)

Merck & Co. said the U.S. committed to buy 1.4 million courses of its Covid-19 pill developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP for about $1 billion, bringing the country’s total to 3.1 million.

The purchases are contingent on Food and Drug Administration clearance of the oral antiviral, called molnupiravir, Merck said Tuesday in a statement, and the U.S. has the ability to buy 2 million more courses. 

NYC Sees High Demand for Kids Vaccines (10:50 a.m. NY)

New York City schools are seeing greater-than-expected demand for vaccines for children age 5 to 11, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. 

After long lines were reported at about a dozen school vaccination sites on Monday, the city is sending 24 mobile units to schools, de Blasio said. About 4,500 students got shots Monday at school sites, for a total of almost 25,000 in that age group that have been vaccinated so far, according to the mayor.

De Blasio had previously planned to have vaccine sites at schools at least one day at week. For those that had more demand than expected Monday, a site will open there again in the next few days, de Blasio said. 

Scotland Considers Tighter Restrictions (10:30 a.m. NY)

Scotland is looking at tightening coronavirus restrictions because of a high level of new cases as it hosts the United Nations climate summit in its largest city. 

The government expects case numbers to increase further in the coming weeks, partly due to the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, Deputy First Minister John Swinney told lawmakers on Tuesday. The administration in Edinburgh “cannot rule out” strengthening existing measures to avoid the need for any future lockdowns, Swinney said. 

NHS Staff Must Be Fully Vaccinated (9:15 a.m. NY)

National Health Service staff in England who work face to face with patients must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by April 1, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told Parliament. Only those who can prove they are fully vaccinated can be employed by the NHS. The decision follows a government consultation that had 34,000 responses, Javid said. 

BioNTech Lifts Vaccine Sales Forecast (6:45 a.m. NY)

BioNTech raised its forecast for this year’s vaccine sales to as much as 17 billion euros ($19.7 billion), lifting the estimate once more as the pandemic drags on and countries order more shots. 

BioNTech and partner Pfizer Inc. have signed contracts to deliver some 2.5 billion doses this year, and expect to manufacture as many as 3 billion by year-end. 

The windfall from the vaccine -- the best-selling pharmaceutical product of all time in a given year -- has given BioNTech the funds to push the rest of its experimental pipeline forward. It’s also raised the pressure on the biotech to show that its growth can be sustained. 

Test Startup Raises Cash (6 a.m. NY)

At the onset of the pandemic, a small genetics startup called Color Genomics set up a Covid-19 testing lab. The company now known as Color Inc. plans to announce a new investment Tuesday that values the startup at $4.6 billion, triple what it was just 11 months ago. Now Color must prove that a business built around a pandemic will serve a purpose when the virus is contained.H.K. Requires Boosters for Some Airport Staff (5:44 p.m. HK)

Airport Authority Hong Kong is requiring all airport staff belonging to high-risk groups to receive a third dose of vaccine, according to a statement on its website. The groups include those handling high-risk cargo or having unavoidable close range contact with arrival, transfer or transit passengers and crew.

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