President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to boost the Covid-19 vaccine rollout – including by spending $20 billion to create mass vaccination centers – should help speed up putting shots into the arms of millions of Americans, experts and officials told Reuters.
More than 10 million Americans had received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine as of Jan. 13, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the year-old pandemic roared on unchecked.
The Trump administration plans to release Covid-19 vaccine doses it had been holding back for second shots and will urge states to offer them to all Americans over age 65, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
Nearly 9 million Americans had been given their first Covid-19 vaccination dose as of Jan. 11, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, as states scrambled to step up inoculations that have yet to slow the roaring pandemic.
As the events that unfolded in Washington on Jan. 6 captured the nation’s attention, the raging coronavirus pandemic claimed its highest U.S. death toll yet, killing more than 4,000 people in a single day according to a Reuters tally.
A federal appeals court upheld a White House-backed rule to require hospitals to disclose the prices they negotiate with insurers for an array of common tests and procedures.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence received his Covid-19 vaccine live on television on Dec. 18, seeking to shore up public support for vaccinations after U.S. deaths from the coronavirus topped 3,000 for a third straight day.
The first days of Pfizer Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout have seen unexpected hitches including some vaccines being stored at excessively cold temperatures and Pfizer reporting potential challenges in vaccine production, U.S. officials said.
A mounting U.S. death toll has tempered enthusiasm about a coming Covid-19 vaccine with 9/11-like fatalities projected every day for the months ahead, even with a rapid rollout of inoculations, which could start as soon as Dec. 14.
After a Thanksgiving weekend when the number of people traveling through U.S. airports reached the highest total since mid-March, a top government official said some Americans could begin receiving coronavirus vaccinations before Christmas.