More than 1 million people in the U.S. have received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine as of Wednesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Why it matters: The U.S. began its largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history last week as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths surged nationwide.
By the numbers:
- 9,465,725 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been distributed as of Wednesday.
- 1,008,025 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been administered.
- Of note: The CDC does not yet have data on the number of the Moderna vaccine doses administered. The FDA granted Moderna an emergency use authorization for its vaccine late last week.
- The U.S. has recorded over 18 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 324,000 deaths as of Wednesday afternoon, per Johns Hopkins University data.
- Some 117,777 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Tuesday evening, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
The big picture: Health care workers and people living in long-term care facilities, as well as some lawmakers, were the first to receive the vaccine in the U.S.
- A CDC advisory board recommended that people over the age of 75 and front-line essential workers be in the next group to receive the vaccine.
Go deeper: U.S. buys another 100 million doses of Pfizer vaccine