The Covid-19 vaccine rollout continues across the U.S. Tuesday. The first shots of Pfizer s two-dose vaccine, administered to health care workers, were met with applause and relief Monday. While the rollout is an encouraging new chapter in the country s fight against the coronavirus, it ll still be a few months until the general public can line up at a doctor s office or a neighborhood drugstore to get the shot. Health experts caution social distancing and masks are key to preventing viral spread in the meantime.
The U.S. is recording at least 215,400 new Covid-19 cases and at least 2,300 virus-related deaths each day, based on a seven-day average calculated by CNBC using Johns Hopkins University data.
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CDC Director Robert Redfield has signed off on the vaccine, allowing immunizations to begin Monday.
The shots should go to front-line health-care workers and residents at long-term care facilities first, where the virus has had a devastating toll, according to CDC guidelines.
It s a race against time to ramp up the vaccine program into a mass inoculation campaign as thousands of people die everyday from Covid-19, with the toll only expected to increase over the holidays.
More than 2,300 deaths were recorded Saturday, following over 3,300 deaths Friday. New infections continue to explode, with more than 219,000 cases reported yesterday.
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