Coronavirus updates: US reports nearly 300,000 new cases in all-time high
A staggering 299,087 new cases were confirmed over the past 24 hours.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 84.6 million people worldwide and killed over 1.8 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Latest headlines:
WV group gets vaccine after mistakenly getting antibody treatment
About 41 West Virginian patients who earlier received the Regeneron monoclonal antibody treatment instead of the Moderna vaccine ultimately got their first shot of a vaccine Thursday, the West Virginia National Guard told ABC News.
The patients were among the 44 people who were identified on Dec. 31 as receiving the wrong treatment at a vaccination clinic hosted by staff at the Boone County Health Department.
The National Guard did not say which vaccine those patients received when they got the correct shot.
Their first shots come despite recommendations by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that patients who receive monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma should defer vaccinations for at least 90 days.
-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report
Pfizer, BioNTech to accelerate offer of COVID vaccine to placebo volunteers
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech have plans to begin offering their COVID-19 vaccine to clinical trial volunteers who received placebo by March 1, several months earlier than initially planned, STAT reported.
The FDA and its advisers had pushed hard for volunteers to remain on placebo as long as possible to gather more safety and efficacy data about the vaccines, while the companies argued that volunteers should receive the vaccines sooner for both ethical and practical reasons.
-ABC News' Eric M. Strauss
NY reports most COVID deaths since May
New York state saw 166 deaths Thursday -- the highest number of deaths in a single day since May 12.
On Thursday, 219,523 test results were reported to New York state, and 7.52% were positive, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office reported.
There were 7,886 patient hospitalizations statewide, 1,292 patients in intensive care units and 776 intubated.
-ABC News' Joshua Hoyos
340,000 people have been vaccinated, to date, in Texas
340,000 people have been vaccinated to date in Texas, out of the state's received allotment of 786,000 vaccination doses, according to data from Texas Health and Human Services.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner also authorized the Houston Health Department to open the city's first free COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Jan. 2. The clinic will expand vaccine access to the general public at high risk of severe illness and death from coronavirus disease, according to a statement from Texas health officials.
Texas' health department received its first allotment of 3,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine and started administering it on December 28.
The Houston Health Department will announce additional free vaccination opportunities as supply increases.
-ABC News' Gina Sunseri