People over 75, front-line essential workers should get vaccine next, CDC panel says

A second federal prisoner scheduled to be executed has tested positive for COVID-19.

Corey Johnson was set to be put to death on Jan 14.

"Not surprisingly, given the growing outbreak on federal death row, Corey Johnson also has now tested positive for COVID-19," Johnson's attorneys, Donald Salzman and Ronald Tabak, said in a statement. "The government must stop conducting executions during a COVID-19 outbreak in the facility, and we have called on the Department of Justice to withdraw Mr. Johnson’s execution date."

“Mr. Johnson’s diagnosis will substantially interfere with his attorneys’ ability to have meaningful contact with him during these critical days before his scheduled execution, and the widespread outbreak on the federal death row only confirms the reckless disregard for the lives and safety of staff, prisoners and attorneys alike," the lawyers continued. "If the government will not withdraw the execution date, we will ask the courts to intervene.”

Johnson was convicted of killing seven people "in furtherance of his drug-trafficking activities," according to the Justice Department.

On Thursday, ABC News learned that another inmate set to be executed in January, Dustin Higgs, was diagnosed with COVID-19, according to one of Higgs' lawyers, Shawn Nolan.

Higgs was scheduled to be executed on Jan. 15.

"This is surely the result of the super spreader executions that the government has rushed to undertake in the heart of a global pandemic," Nolan told ABC News in a statement Thursday evening. "Following the two executions that took place last week and one other two weeks prior, the COVID numbers at the federal prison in Terre Haute spiked enormously. Now our client is sick. We have asked the government to withdraw the execution date and we will ask the courts to intervene if they do not."

Higgs was convicted of ordering the 1996 murders of three women -- Tamika Black, 19, Mishann Chinn, 23, and Tanji Jackson, 21 -- at a national wildlife center near Beltsville, Maryland. Prosecutors allege Higgs and two friends kidnapped the three women after Higgs became enraged because one of them rebuffed his advances at a party earlier that night.

There are 222 inmates at Terre Haute who have tested positive for COVID-19. The Bureau of Prisons said on Thursday night that there were some inmates who have tested positive on death row, but did not go into detail.

A spokesperson said, "While a number of inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 at USP Terre Haute in recent weeks, many of these inmates are asymptomatic or exhibiting mild symptoms. Our highest priority remains ensuring the safety of staff and inmates."

ABC News' Luke Barr contributed to this report.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was vaccinated Friday afternoon on Capitol Hill, according to a spokesman.

Pelosi tweeted, "Today, with confidence in science & at the direction of the Office of the Attending Physician, I received the COVID-19 vaccine. As the vaccine is being distributed, we must all continue mask wearing, social distancing & other science-based steps to save lives & crush the virus."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was also vaccinated Friday. He tweeted, "Just received the safe, effective COVID vaccine following continuity-of-government protocols. Vaccines are how we beat this virus."

Hours earlier, Vice President Mike Pence was vaccinated. Pence along with his wife, Karen, and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on live television at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex.

All three were wearing face masks, as were the health care workers who administered the injections.

"Today, Karen and I wanted to step forward and take this vaccine to ensure the American people that while we cut red tape, we cut no corners," Pence told reporters. "Karen and I hope this step today will be a source of confidence and of comfort to the American people."

The vice president also said that emergency-use authorization of the Moderna vaccine could come "perhaps within hours."

"When it is approved, we expect later today, we’ll be in a position to ship 5.9 million doses of vaccines all across the country next week," he said.

Despite record-high numbers of new cases, deaths and hospitalizations across the U.S. this week, Pence said the country is "rounding the corner" on the coronavirus pandemic.

President-elect Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will get vaccinated on Monday in Delaware, incoming White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.

ABC News' Ben Gittleson and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.

Hard-hit California reported 41,012 daily cases on Friday.

On Wednesday, the Golden State reported a record high of 53,711 daily cases.

With 300 more deaths reported Friday, California’s death toll stands at 22,160.

ABC News’ Matt Fuhrman contributed to this report.

The Washington Monument is temporarily closed, the Interior Department said, after several staff members were put in quarantine following contact with Interior Department Secretary David Bernhardt, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

Bernhardt led a private Washington Monument tour earlier in the week.

The monument will reopen on Dec. 21, the Interior Department said.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs contributed to this report.