Some much-needed good news, finally, for a lot of parents, the lead starts right now.

Sources telling CNN that the FDA will likely sign off on kids as young as 12, being eligible

for Pfizer booster shots in the next few days this, as the U.S. is quickly nearing a record

number of children hospitalized with COVID.

Green light for the red phone.

Right now, President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are talking on the phone.

A head of a key meeting between the U.S. and Russia, and going to extremes Alaska seeing

record-breaking high temperatures this week as we come to the end of a horrific year of

extreme weather fueled at least in part by man-made climate change.

Welcome to the lead-up, Jake Tapper, and we start today with our health lead and encouraging

news when it comes to protecting children against COVID.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to announce that kids 12 to 15 will be eligible

for Pfizer booster shots in the coming days.

The source confirms to CNN studies have already shown that a third Pfizer dose significantly increases

protection against COVID, and specifically the Omicron variant.

And in addition, brand new CDC data, or at least this afternoon, shows that the Pfizer vaccine

is 92 percent effective at preventing any COVID at all in children 12 to 17.

Those shots may be needed more than ever as the number of kids hospitalized with COVID

just reached record levels.

And as CNN's Tom Foreman reports, doctors say almost all of the children being admitted are

unvaccinated.

With the pandemic clocking unprecedented numbers of infections, the FDA is expected to

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