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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Fauci: 'We have not yet seen the full blunt' of Thanksgiving
Dr. Anthony Fauci and White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx warned Tuesday that the U.S. hasn't yet seen the full impact of Thanksgiving gatherings.
“We have not yet seen the full blunt and the effect of the traveling and the congregating,” Fauci said at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council summit .“That should be sometime probably next week, or a week and a half.”
"Then we're going to enter into the Christmas season, again, with more traveling and with more congregating at family and social gatherings. So we're in for a very challenging period," Fauci continued. "And the only way we're going to counter that is by a consistent uniform implementation and adherence to public health measures."
Fauci also said he’s accepted President-elect Joe Biden’s offer to become his chief medical adviser.
“I've already told the president-elect that I would gladly accept that responsibility. It really is very similar to what I'm doing now,” Fauci said.
ABC News' Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
Michigan-Ohio State football game canceled due to increased cases
The University of Michigan said this Saturday's football game against Ohio State is now canceled due to "an increasing number of positive COVID-19 cases and student-athletes in quarantine over the past week."
"The number of positive tests has continued to trend in an upward direction over the last seven days," said Michigan's Athletic Director, Warde Manuel. "We have not been cleared to participate in practice at this time. Unfortunately, we will not be able to field a team due to COVID-19 positives and the associated quarantining required of close-contact individuals."
ABC News' Josh Hoyos contributed to this report.
Nearly 1.5 million US children have had COVID-19
Nearly 1.5 million children in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association said in its weekly report.
During the week ending Dec. 3, there were 123,688 new cases of children with COVID-19, bringing the total number of U.S. children diagnosed to 1,460,905.
ABC News' Eric Strauss contributed to this report.
FDA scientists to report Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine safe and effective
Scientists from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday appeared set to confirm that the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective against the virus, according to documents released ahead of a crucial meeting on the vaccine this week.
According to a document prepared by FDA staff, government scientists plan to tell the advisory committee that the data is adequate to determine the vaccine is both safe and effective.
While that doesn't mean the FDA is prepared to authorize it just yet, the briefing materials suggest agency staff aren't warning of any last-minute issues.
"Safety data from approximately 38,000 participants [greater than or equal to] 16 years of age randomized 1:1 to vaccine or placebo with a median of 2 months of follow up after the second dose suggest a favorable safety profile, with no specific safety concerns identified that would preclude issuance of an EUA," the FDA wrote.
The report notes the most common reaction was a skin reaction at the injection site, followed by fatigue or headaches.
The FDA released data on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine trials and the agency's scientific analysis ahead of an advisory committee meeting on Thursday, when independent experts are set to discuss and vote on whether to recommend the vaccine be authorized for emergency use.
ABC News' Stephanie Ebbs and Anne Flaherty 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.