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Health care workers across the United States were among the first Americans to get the federally approved coronavirus vaccine, marking a critical moment in the fight against Covid-19.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top disease expert, predicted that after vaccines are more widely deployed the country could achieve herd immunity against Covid-19 by "the end of the second quarter 2021."
The beginning of this new phase in fighting the virus came as the U.S. death toll passed 300,000, and recorded more than 200,000 infections in one day.
- Map of U.S. hot spots and worldwide Covid-19 cases.
- Tracking surges in states across the country this winter.
- Map of travel restrictions and which states have a mask mandate.
- Click here for more of NBC News' Covid-19 coverage.
20 million Americans could be vaccinated by end of year, according to Operation Warp Speed doctor
If all goes as planned, 20 million Americans could be vaccinated against Covid-19 by the end of the this year, Operation Warp Speed’s top scientist said Tuesday.
“Between the two vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, we expect to have immunized 20 million of our American people and keeping 20 million doses for their second immunization a few weeks later,” Dr. Moncef Slaoui told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
Slaoui also said the soon-to-be-authorized Moderna vaccine, like the Pfizer vaccine, has been shown to be extremely effective at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
“My expectation is that prevention of disease by these vaccines will last quite long,” he said.
Army Gen. Gustave Perna, the chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, said earlier that after the federal Food and Drug Administration officially authorizes the Moderna vaccine nearly 6 million doses will be shipped to more than 3,000 locations across the country starting Monday.
Sick Santa and Mrs. Claus may have exposed 50 Georgia kids to Covid
A Santa parade and photo-op in Georgia last Thursday may have exposed up to 50 children to Covid-19 after Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus later tested positive for the virus.
Long County Board of Commissioners chairman Robert D. Parker confirmed the positive tests and downplayed the risk of the possibly dozens of exposures in a statement posted on the Board's website.
"While this is cause for concern, I feel that it is important to note that exposures happen every day as we go about our day to day lives, often without any knowledge," the statement said.
Over-the-counter home Covid test authorized by FDA
The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to an over-the-counter Covid-19 test Tuesday.
The Ellume Covid-19 Home Test is an antigen test that provides results in as little as 20 minutes.
Users collect a sample using a nasal swab. The sample is analyzed with a device that connects to a smartphone, and results are provided on an app.
According to the FDA, the test correctly identified 96 percent of positive samples and 100 percent of negative samples in people with symptoms. The rates were slightly lower in people without symptoms.
The tests will be available in January.
Germany imposes new lockdown measures to last through the holidays
The German government is urging its citizens to not go Christmas shopping and to watch midnight mass online instead of going to church on Christmas Eve because of the pandemic.
The recommendation comes as new lockdown measures aimed at slowing the rapidly rising number of new Covid-19 cases were set to go into effect on Wednesday and stay in place through the holidays until at least Jan. 10, the Associated Press reported.
“I wish and I hope that people will only buy what they really need, like groceries,” the country’s Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said. “The faster we get these infections under control, the better it is for everyone.”
Mirroring the pandemic restrictions its neighbor, the Netherlands, has put into place, Germany is closing all the schools and switching to online learning, and shuttering almost all non-grocery stores. Indoor restaurant dining is also banned for the holidays.
Supreme Court blocks New Jersey restrictions on religious institutions
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court issued a second ruling Tuesday, again limiting a state’s application of Covid-19 restrictions that apply to religious settings.
It granted an injunction, sought by two New Jersey religious institutions — a church in North Caldwell, and a synagogue in Lakewood.
They asked for an injunction allowing them “to host indoor, in-person religious worship for their respective congregations on the same terms and conditions allowed for comparable secular activities. That is, either the 100% of capacity afforded ‘essential’ non-retail businesses or, in the alternative, the 50% of capacity allowed for “essential” retail businesses, with the same health and safety protocols and exemptions applicable to comparable secular activities.”
There were no noted dissents on this one.
Former CDC head warned the vaccine is "not gonna get us through the winter.”
The former head of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday the “vaccine is extremely exciting, but it's not gonna get us through the winter.”
“What's gonna help during this winter and what's gonna help get us to the point so people get vaccinated is Congress stepping up and providing resources,” Dr. Richard Besser, who is currently the president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, told MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle. “They have let us down as a nation.”
Besser was referring to Congress’ ongoing struggle to hammer together a Covid-19 relief package to aid millions of hard-pressed Americans.
When asked who will get the vaccine after health care workers and nursing home residents, Besser said “each state is gonna have to make tough decisions.”
“We'll be looking to the CDC to make recommendations in terms of which groups are vaccinated first,” Besser said. “But it's gonna be really hard until there's enough vaccine for everybody.”
As for the vaccine refuseniks, Besser said “we're not gonna get there by pressuring people.”
“It's gonna be individual one on one encounters that increase the level of safety and confidence,” he said.
Besser spoke out a day after front line workers became the first in the United States to receive the long-awaited first doses of the new Covid-19 vaccine – and after the U.S. eclipsed more than 300,000 deaths due to Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.
Moderna Covid-19 vaccine documents accessed in EMA cyberattack
Moderna said on Monday it was informed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) certain documents related to pre-submission talks of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate were unlawfully accessed in a cyberattack on the medicines regulator.
The EMA, which assesses medicines and vaccines for the European Union, said earlier this month that it had been targeted in a cyberattack, which also gave hackers access to documents related to the development of the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
Moderna said its submission to the EMA did not include any information identifying individual study participants and there is no information at present that any participants had been identified in any way.
Moderna's vaccine is highly effective, FDA says, clearing way for second vaccine
Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine is 94 percent effective at preventing symptomatic illness and appears to prevent the spread of the virus as well, according to documents released Tuesday.
The findings set the Moderna vaccine up for FDA emergency use authorization by the end of this week, meaning Americans could soon have two highly effective Covid-19 vaccines.
The high efficacy was noted after two doses of the vaccine, given 28 days apart. This is about the same level of effectiveness as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first shots of which were given to health care workers on Monday.