More than a million people in the US have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday.
“The United States reached an early but important milestone today. Jurisdictions have now reported that more than a million people have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine since it began 10 days ago,” Redfield said.
Speaking to reporters, Moncef Slaoui, chief advisor to the government’s Operation Warp Speed, said the target of immunizing 20 million people this month “is unlikely”.
But he said the U.S. is still targeting 100 million people vaccinated by the end of the first quarter of 2021 and another 100 million by the second quarter.
Last week, three million doses were given in the United States. The first approved vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was administered on December 14th.
This week the goal was to distribute six million vaccine doses from Moderna and another two million from Pfizer.
The US is the hardest hit country in the world and is in the middle of an extreme winter spurt.
More than 320,000 people have succumbed to the virus, and it will likely be the leading killer in 2020 behind heart disease and cancer.
Long-term care facility residents and healthcare workers have been at the forefront, while the next phase aims to target people over 75 and critical workers.