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More than a million people have received their first dose of a covid-19 vaccine in the United States, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Robert Redfield said Wednesday.
“The United States today achieved an early but important milestone: jurisdictions have reported that more than a million people have received their first dose of the covid-19 vaccine since administration began 10 days ago,” he said.
Moncef Slaoui, senior adviser to the government’s immunization program, said the goal of immunizing 20 million people by the end of the year “will probably not be met.”
The United States still aims to immunize 100 million people before the end of the first quarter of 2021, and another 100 million before the end of the second quarter, Slaoui said.
Redfield called on Americans to continue to respect social distancing and the use of masks until all citizens of the country are vaccinated.
Two vaccines, those of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, They have so far been approved for distribution by the US health authorities, which began their vaccination campaign on December 14.
The Pentagon announced on Wednesday the order for an additional 100 million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech, bringing the total orders to 400 million doses, half from Pfizer and half from Moderna.
These two vaccines will immunize 200 million people in the United States, since both require two injections.
Anthony Fauci, a highly respected figure in the United States in the fight against covid-19, said on Wednesday that if the operation to vaccinate the United States population goes smoothly, the country could reach a level of 70-85% of immunity for next summer.
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