Coronavirus updates: 1st vaccines now on the way to all 50 US states

Two main trucks left the Pfizer facility on Sunday morning, the company said.

ByMorgan Winsor, Erin Schumaker, Ivan Pereira, Emily Shapiro, Meredith Deliso, and Rosa Sanchez
Last Updated: December 12, 2020, 4:01 PM EST

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 71.5 million people and killed over 1.6 million worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed this week. All times Eastern.
Dec 12, 2020, 12:22 PM EST

1st vaccines to arrive at 145 sites on Monday

Pfizer said it expects to have the vaccines rolling out of its Kalamazoo, Michigan, facility on Sunday morning.

A person wearing a protective face mask walks past the Pfizer Inc. headquarters in New York, Dec. 11, 2020.
Bryan Smith/Zuma Press

The first shipments are expected to arrive at 145 sites on Monday, 425 sites on Tuesday and another 66 sites on Wednesday, Gen. Gus Perna of the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed vaccine program said.

At those sites, the vaccines will be paired with ancillary kits to assist with the vaccinations. The kits contain needles, syringes, alcohol swabs, diluent, safety gear and vaccine reminder cards.

ABC News' Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

Dec 12, 2020, 10:30 AM EST

FDA ‘very comfortable’ with vaccine safety profile for 16, 17 year olds

Common questions surrounding the newly authorized Pfizer vaccine include safety for teenagers and the risk of allergic reactions.

Though the final data doesn’t have conclusive data on 16 and 17 year olds because they weren’t enrolled in trials until more recently, the FDA is “very comfortable with the safety profile that was observed in 17 and 16 year olds," Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told reporters.

Crestview High School students are greeted with temperature checks as they are welcomed back as schools in Fort Walton Beaco Fla., Dec. 7, 2020.
Northwest Florida Daily News via USA Today Network

PHOTO: A student wears a protective face mask while sitting near a box of disinfecting wipes in a classroom in West Lawn, Penn., Oct. 22, 2020.
A student wears a protective face mask while sitting near a box of disinfecting wipes in the chemistry classroom at Wilson High School, as precautionary measures are taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among student in school in West Lawn, Penn., Oct. 22, 2020.
Medianews Group/reading Eagle Vi/MediaNews Group via Getty Images

Regarding allergies, Marks said 1.6% of the population has had a severe allergic reaction.

Marks said you should notify your doctor if you’ve ever had an allergic reaction to a vaccine and noted that sites that administer the vaccine will have medications on hand to respond to an allergic reaction.

ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

Dec 12, 2020, 10:01 AM EST

FDA Commissioner denies he was threatened with firing

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn on Saturday denied reports he was threatened with firing.

Sources familiar with the matter told ABC News that in a Friday phone call, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows suggested to Hahn that his job could be on the line if his agency didn’t authorize emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by the end of the day.

“Representations in the press that I was threatened to be fired if we didn’t get it done by a certain date is inaccurate,” Hahn told reporters Saturday.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn answers questions during a virtual press conference on the first COVID-19 vaccine, Dec. 12, 2020.
US_FDA/Twitter

Hahn said he would “absolutely” take the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. He said it was authorized late Friday because science and data said it was ready, not because of “any other external pressure.”

ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

Dec 12, 2020, 7:15 AM EST

Friday was deadliest day since COVID-19 pandemic began, data shows

A record number of people -- 3,309 -- died from COVID-19 Friday, according to new data from Johns Hopkins University.

Medics transfer a patient on a stretcher from an ambulance outside of Emergency at Coral Gables Hospital where Coronavirus patients are treated near Miami, Dec. 10, 2020.
Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Medical staff member Gabriel Cervera Rodoriguez stands and takes by the bedside of an enshrouded patient that was lost in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Dec. 11, 2020.
Go Nakamura/Getty Images

Friday's record shattered the previous single-day record death toll of 3,124 which was set Wednesday.

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