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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12 US states in South, West report record-high hospitalizations
Approximately 1 in every 15 Americans has contracted the coronavirus, according to ABC News’ analysis of data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, over 700,000 Americans have been hospitalized with the virus.
On Tuesday, 12 U.S. states -- mostly in the South -- reported a record number of patients hospitalized: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
Some data may be skewed due to incomplete reporting over the holidays.
ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
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.
Biden to get 2nd vaccine dose on Monday
President-elect Joe Biden will get his second vaccine dose in public on Monday “to continue to instill confidence in the vaccine’s safety and efficacy,” said incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
This will be 21 days after Biden received the first dose, she said.
When Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris receives her second dose, it will also be in public, she said.
Psaki added, “The Biden-Harris transition team today started to vaccinate incoming members of the administration. Up to 35 individuals will be vaccinated.”
“These individuals are people who will be in close proximity to the President or Vice President, who are critical members of the National Security team or are Cabinet nominees in the line of succession to the presidency,” she said. “These vaccinations are being conducted now so that these individuals can complete their inoculation shortly after January 20. The vaccine being used for this purpose is coming from supplies previously allocated to the White House medical unit.”
ABC News’ John Verhovek and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.