Coronavirus updates: State reports over 49,000 new cases, 468 new deaths

The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE), an advisory group to the World Health Organization, updated its guidance for the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday.

SAGE's recommendations to the WHO director-general, who will ultimately decide whether to approve them, included recommending two doses of the Pfizer vaccine within 21-28 days, with provisions made for countries in extraordinary circumstances.

The group also recommended that that vaccine only be given in settings where allergic reactions can be treated. Since there's not yet enough safety data available on pregnant women, the group only recommends the vaccine for pregnant women in settings where benefits outweigh risks, such as for pregnant health care workers who are exposed to the virus.

People who have had COVID-19 and recovered should get vaccinated, according to SAGE.

"We are in a race to save lives right now," Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said Tuesday. "Caseloads are so high in several countries that hospitals and intensive care units are filling up to dangerous levels."

"New variants, which appear to be more transmissible, are exacerbating the situation," Tedros added.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

A third of health workers in the New York City public hospital system declined COVID-19 vaccines, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday, as he tried to explain the city-run hospitals' lagging vaccination numbers.

"It's a real issue and we've got to look it in the eye," de Blasio said. "It's understandable that after all the pain of 2020 a lot of people are worried and in general folks have been through so much. We’ve got to understand. We’ve got to win trust for the vaccine."

The mayor also pushed back on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's threat to fine hospitals that fail to use their vaccine allotment within seven days.

"They don’t need the threat of fines," de Blasio said. "If the state of New York says, you get [a] $1 million fine if you move too quickly and [a] $100,000 fine if you move too slowly, that doesn’t get anyone anywhere."

-ABC News' Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia all reported record COVID-19 hospitalizations Monday, according to an ABC News analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project.

When hospitalizations rise, deaths tend to follow, according to health experts. With the spread of more contagious COVID-19 variants, more people will "end up dying from this virus," Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, warned during an interview with "Good Morning America" on Tuesday.

Even with delays in reporting because of the holidays, hundreds of thousands of Americans are still testing positive each day. Monday marked two consecutive months that the U.S. has recorded more than 100,000 new cases every day.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.

The head coach for the Cleveland Browns, Kevin Stefanski, has tested positive for COVID-19, the Browns announced in a Twitter statement Tuesday.

The football team's contingency plan is to have special teams coordinator Mike Priefer serve as acting head coach. The news comes just before the Browns' first NFL playoff game in 18 years on Sunday.

In addition to Stefanski, two coaching staff members and two players tested positive. The team's facility is currently closed for contact tracing purposes.

-ABC News' Michael Kreisel contributed to this report.