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.
Latest headlines:
6 states report over 10,000 new cases
As COVID-19 continues to surge across the U.S., six states reported over 10,000 new cases on Saturday, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
They were California, Florida, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Another seven states reported over 5,000 new cases: Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina and Tennessee.
In total, according to the tracker, there were 223,365 new U.S. cases reported on Saturday, 2,477 deaths and a record 108,487 people currently hospitalized.
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices votes to recommend Pfizer vaccine
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an independent group of medical experts that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a virtual meeting on Saturday voted 11-0 recommending the Pfizer vaccine for Americans 16 years and older.
Three committee members recused themselves because they had a conflict of interest.
This recommendation now heads to CDC Director Robert Redfield, who must sign off before doses can be administered.
ABC News’ Lauren Lantry contributed to this report.
Country music legend Charley Pride dies from virus
Country music legend Charley Pride died of COVID-19 complications on Saturday.
Last month, the 86-year-old performed at the CMA Awards, where he accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Pride was the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
“Between 1967 and 1987, Pride delivered 52 Top 10 country hits, won Grammy awards, and became RCA Records’ top-selling country artist,” said the statement announcing his death. “His musicality opened minds and superseded prejudice.“
California breaks records for daily cases, daily deaths, total hospitalizations
California broke new records on Saturday for daily cases (over 35,700), daily deaths (225) and total hospitalizations (13,410).
Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued stay-at-home orders to regions if their intensive care unit capacity falls below 15%. The San Joaquin Valley, Southern California and the Greater Sacramento region all have fallen below that threshold, while the Bay Area and Northern California have not.
ICU capacity in the San Joaquin Valley fell to 0% on Saturday and was at 5.3% in Southern California.
ABC News’ Matt Fuhrman contributed to this report.
UK prepares for Tuesday's rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations
Doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have been delivered across the United Kingdom, ahead of the launch of the country's immunization program.
The potentially life-saving vaccine will be administered nationwide starting Tuesday morning, and some 800,000 doses were expected to be in place for the first day of what will be the largest-scale immunization program in U.K. history.
Vaccinations will be rolled out in phases, with elderly care home residents and their carers first on the priority list, followed by anyone else aged 80 and over, as well as frontline health and social care workers.
Last week, the U.K. became the first country in the world to authorize the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for emergency use. The vaccine was shown in late-stage clinical trials to be more than 95% effective in preventing COVID-19.