So far, 8% of the U.S. population has received one or more doses of COVID-19 vaccines, according to official figures released Friday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In total, 35,203,710 vaccine doses have been administered nationwide. About 27.9 million people -- 8% of the population -- have received one or more doses, while 6.9 million people -- 2% of the population -- have received two doses.

ABC News' Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration announced Friday that 1,110 active-duty military personnel will be deployed across the country to assist with COVID-19 vaccinations.

The announcement was made during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C.

The troops, sourced from across the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, will be split up into five teams of 222 personnel that will be assigned to support five COVID-19 vaccination centers run by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), according to a fact sheet on the initiative released by the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

FEMA and the U.S. Department of Defense will jointly determine when the troops are no longer needed for vaccination support, according the fact sheet.

ABC News' Matt Seyler contributed to this report.

The U.S. Senate approved a budget resolution early Friday morning that would allow for the passage of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package without the threat of a filibuster from Republican lawmakers who oppose it.

Vice President Kamala Harris broke a 50-50 tie in the Senate by casting a vote in favor of the Democratic measure, which was approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday. The resolution now goes back to the House for final approval.

Biden has said he hopes to garner Republicans' support for his sweeping COVID-19 relief package, billed as the American Rescue Plan, though Democrats are working to push it through Congress with or without the GOP.

University of Oxford researchers said Friday that the COVID-19 vaccine they developed with British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca remains effective against a new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus currently circulating in the United Kingdom.

A preprint of ongoing work to assess effectiveness of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine shows that the existing version has similar efficacy against the so-called B117 variant to previously circulating variants. The preprint also describes recent analysis showing that the vaccination "results in a reduction in the duration of shedding and viral load, which may translate into a reduced transmission of the disease," according to a press release from the university.

"Data from our trials of the ChAdOx1 vaccine in the United Kingdom indicate that the vaccine not only protects against the original pandemic virus, but also protects against the novel variant, B117, which caused the surge in disease from the end of 2020 across the UK," Andrew Pollard, professor of pediatric infection and immunity at the University of Oxford and chief investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, said in a statement.

The B117 variant was first identified last September in Kent, England, and has since spread to dozens of other countries.

"We are working with AstraZeneca to optimize the pipeline required for a strain change should one become necessary," Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford and chief investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, said in a statement. "This is the same issue that is faced by all of the vaccine developers, and we will continue to monitor the emergence of new variants that arise in readiness for a future strain change."

An accommodation facility for refugees in the German city of Cologne has been hit by new, more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus, city officials said.

At least 41 residents of the Herkulesstrasse facility have tested positive for COVID-19. Variants first identified in South Africa or Brazil have been detected in 31 of them so far, according to a statement from the city government on Sunday.

At least 16 staff members at the facility have also tested positive for COVID-19, with the South Africa variant detected in 11 of them so far. Variant analysis is still pending on the other five, according to the statement.

All residents of the facility have been under quarantine since Friday, while the site has been under surveillance since Sunday. Entry into the refugee accommodation center, which can house up to 600 people, is currently banned, according to the statement.

The first known COVID-19 cases were confirmed among two employees at the facility about 10 days ago, while the first case of a variant was confirmed last week, according to the statement.

Dr. Harald Rau, head of Cologne's public health department, said the detection of variants at the refugee accommodation center "is a clear alarm signal for all of us."

"I ask all people in Cologne to avoid contact even more consistently than before and to follow the distance and hygiene rules of infection protection," Rau said in a statement Sunday.