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

The United States reported a record high of 249,709 new COVID-19 cases Friday -- just shy of a quarter-million -- according to updated data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. 

Also, according to The COVID Tracking Project's Friday evening update, a record 114,751 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus, marking the thirteenth straight day that the nation has hit a record high of current hospitalizations.

Additionally, 2,814 deaths were reported Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University. 

By all metrics, this week has been the worse since the pandemic began in terms of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

Stanford Medical Center has apologized for its vaccine plan that left out many front-line doctors following Friday's protest. 

In a statement obtained by KGO, Stanford Health Care wrote: "We take complete responsibility for the errors in the execution of our vaccine distribution plan. Our intent was to develop an ethical and equitable process for distribution of the vaccine. We apologize to our entire community, including our residents, fellows, and other frontline care providers, who have performed heroically during our pandemic response. We are immediately revising our plan to better sequence the distribution of the vaccine."

On Friday morning, hundreds of residents protested at Stanford Medical Center, saying that only seven front-line residents were going to be given the COVID-19 vaccine in the first wave of 5,000 vaccines the hospital was allocated. 

Front-line doctors at the protest said orthopedic surgeons, dermatologists and telehealth doctors were getting vaccinated before them.

California Department of Public Health spokesperson Ali Bay also released a statement following the protest. 

"The federal and state vaccine guidelines have prioritized our front-line health care workers who have been putting their lives at risk to fight this virus from day one. We urge all health care providers to follow the state's guidelines on vaccination phases which were created in consultation with experts and community leaders," Bay said.

Advocate Aurora Health, a health care system in Wisconsin and Illinois, said Friday that four members of their team at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Illinois, “experienced reactions” after getting Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.

They are now temporarily pausing their vaccination program as they treat the team members and investigate why they experienced negative reactions.

"Since Thursday, four team members at Advocate Condell Medical Center experienced reactions shortly after vaccination with symptoms including tingling and elevated heartrate," they said in a statement. "These four team members represent fewer than 0.15% of the approximately 3,000 who have so far received vaccinations across Advocate Aurora Health. At this time, we can share three team members are home and doing well, and one is receiving additional treatment."

They explained that reactions are an expected side effect of vaccination, and they still encourage others to get vaccinated to put an end to the coronavirus pandemic.

There are a record 114,751 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S., according to The COVID Tracking Project.

Nevada and Arizona have the highest hospitalizations per million people in the country, it said.

Per capita cases are also growing "at an alarming rate" in Arizona, it said, with currently 1,049 new COVID-19 cases per million people.

There were 228,825 new cases and 2,751 additional deaths reported nationwide on Friday.