US administers first doses of COVID-19 vaccine as cases soar across the country

by Alexandra Kelley | Dec. 14, 2020 | Dec. 14, 2020

coronavirus COVID-19 community spread pfizer vaccine first dose new york jewish hospital nurse health care worker cuomo shipped record-breaking new cases data biontech 2.9 million doses

Dr. Michelle Chester, right, rolls up the sleeve of Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, before she is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, December 14, 2020 , at the Jewish Medical Center, in the Queens borough of New York City. Mark Lennihan - Pool/Getty Images

Story at a glance

On Monday, one of the first health care workers was vaccinated against COVID-19 in New York.
Nearly 3 million doses will be deployed across the country.

As the U.S. nears a year of living with COVID-19, the first recipients of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine will be inoculated today, a major step toward ending the pandemic.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first COVID-19 vaccine candidate for emergency use on Dec. 11 and coordinated with government officials to deploy the first rounds to military outposts by Monday, Dec. 14.

“We expect 145 sites across all the states to receive vaccine on Monday, another 425 sites on Tuesday, and the final 66 sites on Wednesday, which will complete the initial delivery of the Pfizer orders for vaccine,” Gustave Perna, the chief operating officer of the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed, said to CNN.

One of the initial vaccinations took place in New York at the Northwell Long Island Jewish Medical Center. A nurse was vaccinated at 9:23 am EST as part of a livestreamed event with Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

Other locations across the country, including in Kentucky, Connecticut, Iowa, Washington D.C. and Michigan will administer vaccines today, ABC reports.

Overall, Pfizer will have delivered 2.9 million doses across 636 locations in the U.S.

The elation surrounding vaccine distribution is tempered by skyrocketing new infections across the country. Aggregated data reveals that over the last two weeks, new COVID-19 cases have increased by 30 percent.

On Dec. 13 alone, the U.S. counted about 184,248 new cases and 1,357 new fatalities associated with COVID-19 cases.

Roughly 44 states are experiencing record-breaking peaks in new infections.

PFIZER’S VACCINE IS GIVEN IN TWO DOSES — BUT FDA SAYS FIRST DOSE ALONE IS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE

HOW DID THE UK GET THE CORONAVIRUS VACCINE BEFORE THE US?

FORMER ALABAMA STATE SENATOR DIES OF COVID-19, LAST WORDS ARE ‘WE MESSED UP’

CDC CUTS LENGTH OF COVID-19 QUARANTINE TIME AFTER EXPOSURE