The distribution of the coronavirus vaccine has been expanded to nursing homes days after the first doses were given.
More than a third of the 306,000 deaths from COVID-19 come from long-term care facilities and from nursing home residents, according to the COVID monitoring project. Workers in West Virginia and Florida were at the helm of the line to get the first dose of the vaccine.
Army members are also being immunized as the implementation of the Pfizer vaccine continues across the country.
CBS News had exclusive access as more than 4,800 doses of the vaccine arrived at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Upon arrival, the vials were immediately placed in an ultra-cold freezer. They were then removed in small batches, labeled and thawed.
Dr. Nate Kupperman was one of the first to get the shot. “With this vaccination, I now know I will not die from this disease,” he said.
But there have been reports of a problem that affected roads in California and Alabama. The vials have arrived too cold to be processed and thousands of potential doses will be replaced.
There have been other reports of recipients having side effects. A middle-aged health worker in Juneau, Alaska, had an allergic reaction within ten minutes of receiving the vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration issued a reminder Wednesday that people with severe allergies to vaccines should refrain from taking them at this time.
Along with hope comes so much despair.
California reported nearly 54,000 new cases of coronavirus in one day, the highest in history. State hospitalizations and deaths are also at record levels. Hospital employees, such as Marcia Santini, are now ill.
“It was like someone punched me in the gut and ripped my heart out and I’m wondering how this could have happened so carefully,” Santini said.
A new CDC report shows that most children with coronavirus have obtained it from their families and not from their classmates.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert, said he expects Americans to get the vaccine when it is widely available in the spring. “If we do, we will get a veil or an umbrella of herd immunity over the population that would drastically decrease the dynamics of the outbreak,” Fauci said.
After battling COVID-19 since November and giving birth while in the hospital, Natalhie Herrera finally returned home this week to take her 1-month-old baby, Felippe, for the first time.