Coronavirus updates: California reports over 49,000 new cases, 468 new deaths
More than 373,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 90 million people worldwide and killed over 1.9 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
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European Commission authorizes Moderna vaccine
The European Commission granted a conditional marketing authorisation for the Moderna vaccine Wednesday, following the European Medicines Agency’s recommendation.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement, "With the Moderna vaccine, the second one now authorised in the EU, we will have a further 160 million doses. And more vaccines will come. Europe has secured up to two billion doses of potential COVID-19 vaccines. We’ll have more than enough safe and effective vaccines for protecting all Europeans.”
ABC News' Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.
US surgeon general promises vaccine rollout is 'ramping up'
In the wake of the slower-than-expected vaccine distribution, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams told ABC News’ "Good Morning America" Wednesday, "we are quickly ramping up."
Operation Warp Speed promised 20 million vaccines by the end of 2020. As of Tuesday morning, 4.8 million had been vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We’re now approaching 500,000 vaccinations per day," Adams said, highlighting the increase in priority groups and locations where the vaccine is offered.
"We're going to make sure we're putting vaccines and supplies where the demand actually is. And you're going to continue to see these rates ramp up," Adams said. "It is by no means as good as we would want it to be, but I want the American people to keep this in perspective: most difficult vaccine rollout in history. It’s ramping up and you'll see things rapidly increase over the next couple of weeks."
EU medical agency recommends emergency use authorization for Moderna vaccine
The European Medicines Agency has recommended granting a conditional marketing authorization for Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for people who are at least 18 years old.
This is the second vaccine the EMA has recommended for authorization. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was approved by the EU in December.
The EMA cited a large clinical trial, involving around 30,000 people, that showed a 94.1% efficacy rate.
“This vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency,” said Emer Cooke, executive director of EMA. “It is a testament to the efforts and commitment of all involved that we have this second positive vaccine recommendation just short of a year since the pandemic was declared by WHO.
The European Commission must give final approval of the conditional marketing authorization in order for the vaccine to be distributed, but that appears to be a formality.
-ABC News' Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.
US sees record number of new COVID-19 deaths
The United States recorded it's deadliest day since the start of the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
There were 3,775 deaths from COVID-19 registered nationwide -- the previous record was on Dec. 30 when 3,744 fatalities from the disease were logged.
It should be noted that the holidays have impacted data being reported and are expected to continue to be skewed over the coming days.
The U.S. now has 375,385 deaths related to COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins data.
-ABC News' Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.