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.
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.
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HHS officials acknowledge staffing struggle
Jonathan Greene, deputy assistant secretary for operations and resources at the Department of Health and Human Services, acknowledged in a briefing call that the agency is not able to provide the number of health care workers states are requesting.
HHS and FEMA have been "very judicious" in using and moving health care workers, providing 300 to 400 nationwide, which matches the number deployed during the first surge in the spring, Greene said. Fewer were deployed over the summer, mimicking the case curve.
About 3,100 can be deployed nationally, but Greene admitted the system is designed more for situations like hurricanes than for pandemics.
“It works less well when we're talking about a pandemic where everyone needs all of these providers all at once. And certainly when we activate and deploy these people and take them out of their full-time jobs and put them somewhere else, it reduces the capacity in the places where they come from,” he said.
Greene said the agency has encouraged the use of non-traditional health care providers in order "to bridge the gap."
ABC News' Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.
Ellen DeGeneres tests positive
Ellen DeGeneres said Thursday that she’s tested positive for COVID-19 and is “feeling fine.”
“Anyone who has been in close contact with me has been notified, and I am following all proper guidelines,” the talk show host said.
NYC schools aim to close ‘COVID achievement gap’
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled his 2021 student achievement plan, which will focus on getting students caught up after, for some, 18 months of remote learning.
“Clearly there will be a COVID achievement gap and we have to close that COVID achievement gap,” the mayor said.
Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said the plan is to: get a baseline of what ground was lost; increase the high-quality digital curriculum available for every single school; launch a one-stop digital learning hub; deepen professional development; expand Parent University (the "online learning and empowerment platform" for families); and confront the trauma and mental health crisis within schools.
ABC News' Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
Seoul reporting bed shortages
In South Korea, more than 3,000 COVID-19 patients were identified in the last week, and in the Seoul area, as of Wednesday 506 were unable to be taken to hospitals this week due to bed shortages, Yonhap reported.
South Korea reported 682 new cases and eight more deaths on Thursday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported.
The nation now has over 40,000 confirmed cases.
Biden transition team says Trump administration still hasn't shared vaccine distribution plans
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's transition team said the Trump administration still has not shared its distribution plans for COVID-19 vaccines.
"We have yet to see any kind of detailed plan," Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist who is a member of Biden's transition COVID-19 advisory board, said in an interview Monday on "CBS This Morning."
"We really need to understand what their plan for distribution is," she added. "We've already been trying to get a handle on how many doses will be available to us from each of the companies and by when, but we do need some internal information on that from the federal government. We also need to understand where they are with their plans."