People over 75, front-line essential workers should get vaccine next, CDC panel says
Those groups would cover teachers and critical workers in high-risk settings.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 75.5 million people worldwide and killed over 1.6 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Latest headlines:
- Congress reaches deal on COVID relief package
- CDC committee: People over 75, front-line essential workers should get vaccine next
- McKesson begins distributing Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine
- First Moderna vaccinations likely Monday, Azar says
- New London lockdown announced in face of more virulent COVID-19 strain
- US sees record-high number of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, deaths
100 million seniors should be vaccinated by March, Slaoui says
Moncef Slaoui, President Donald Trump’s top science adviser in the vaccine effort, expects the vast majority of seniors in the country to be vaccinated by the end of March, he told CNBC's "Health Returns.”
About 120 million Americans are over the age of 65. While vaccine doses are just starting to reach nursing homes, Slaoui said he expects pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens to begin offering shots in February to seniors living outside long-term care facilities.
Because two doses are required, Slauoi said he expects it will take until the end of March to immunize about 100 million of the nation’s seniors.
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
California shatters new daily case record
California reported a record high of 53,711 new cases Wednesday -- a 3.3% increase from Tuesday.
Of Wednesday's new cases, 21,411 were in Los Angeles County alone. However, that total includes about 7,000 backlogged cases.
This surpassed the previous daily case record of 35,729, which was reported on Dec. 11.
The Golden State recorded 293 additional deaths on Wednesday, up 1.4% from Tuesday.
Twitter to remove misleading information on vaccines
Twitter said that starting next week, the company will “prioritize the removal of the most harmful misleading information, and during the coming weeks, begin to label Tweets that contain potentially misleading information about the vaccines.”
Beginning early next year, the company said it may “label or place a warning on Tweets that advance unsubstantiated rumors, disputed claims, as well as incomplete or out-of-context information about vaccines.”
FDA authorizes Abbott’s BinaxNOW rapid test for home use
Abbott has received FDA emergency use authorization for at-home use of its BinaxNOW rapid test, which it says can deliver “results in minutes.”
The credit card-sized $25 test -- the lowest available price for at-home testing -- will become highly available in 2021, Abbott said.
Until now, the test (which requires a prescription) was available in limited quantities and needed to be performed by a trained medical professional.
Thirty million tests should be available in the first quarter of 2021 and another 90 million in the second quarter.
ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.