An independent advisory panel of infectious disease experts, doctors and scientists recommended Thursday that the U.S. government authorize the nation's first vaccine for people over the age of 16.

It's a major milestone in the effort to get the vaccine to hospitals and pharmacies.

After hours of drilling down into data produced from a clinical trial involving 44,000 people, the group of experts -- known as the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee -- voted in favor of the vaccine for people over 16 years of age.

Several members raised concerns about unknowns about the vaccine, including its potential to trigger allergic reactions and little data on how it impacts pregnant women.

Several panel members also expressed concern there wasn't enough data to support giving the vaccines to 16- and 17-year-olds.

At issue was this question: "Based on the totality of scientific evidence available, do the benefits of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine outweigh its risks for use in individuals 16 years of age and older?"

The panel voted 17-4 that the benefits outweighed the risks. One member of the committee abstained.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will now take the committee's input into account in issuing an emergency use authorization.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty

Indoor dining and gyms will be suspended in Pennsylvania beginning Saturday, Gov. Tom Wolf announced.

Indoor gatherings will be limited to 10 people, he said.

Wolf announced the new restrictions one day after revealing that he tested positive for COVID-19.

Pennsylvania has over 422,000 confirmed cases and has lost at least 12,010 residents to the virus.

California reported 220 deaths on Thursday, surpassing the previous record of 219 on July 31.

With the average daily number of deaths climbing over the last month, the state's death toll now stands at 20,463.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered regions to follow a stay-at-home order if their intensive care unit capacity falls below 15%.

The San Joaquin Valley -- where capacity is at 1.9% -- and Southern California -- where capacity is at 7.7% -- are under stay-at-home orders until at least Dec. 28.

The Greater Sacramento region now meets the criteria and a stay-at-home order will go into effect Thursday night.

Just two regions, the Bay Area and Northern California, are not under stay-at-home orders.

ABC News’ Matt Fuhrman contributed to this report.

Utah teachers and school administrators will be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines as a part of phase one, directly after health care workers, Gov. Gary Herbert said.

Herbert said he expects teachers will be able to be vaccinated by the end of December or early January.

ABC News’ Matt Fuhrman contributed to this report.

For the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the United States is reporting an average of nearly 2,200 deaths from the disease per day, according to an ABC News analysis of data collected and published by The COVID Tracking Project.

The national seven-day average of COVID-19 deaths per day day is currently 2,171. That figure has increased by 139% in the past month.

Last week, there were nearly 15,000 fatalities from the disease recorded nationwide, including five days where the daily death toll surpassed the 2,000 mark. That's roughly equivalent to 88 COVID-19 deaths reported each hour.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has reported over 100,000 new cases of COVID-19 every day for more than a month straight, including three consecutive days where the daily count topped 200,000.

Just in the last month, the national seven-day average of daily new cases has doubled, now averaging 191,736 -- the highest it has been since the beginning of the pandemic.

There were 1,018,657 cases recorded nationwide in the first five days of December. To put that in perspective, it took nearly 100 days from the first recorded COVID-19 case in the U.S. for the country to surpass 1 million confirmed cases.

Hospitalizations continue to surge to unprecedented levels, with over 101,000 patients currently hopitalized with COVID-19 across the country -- a new national record.

In the past two months, current hospitalizations have more than tripled, increasing by 223%.

ABC News' Benjamin Bell, Brian Hartman, Kim Soorin and Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.