The U.S. saw record numbers of daily coronavirus cases and deaths on Wednesday, even as the first vaccine for the illness is being distributed to health care workers across the country.
According to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker, 247,357 new cases were confirmed on Wednesday, while 3,656 patients died of the illness. There are 113,069 patients currently hospitalized in the U.S. with coronavirus, which is also a record number.
Rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine began this week, with health care workers the first to receive a vaccination, and the Food and Drug Administration is likely to authorize Moderna’s vaccine for general use. However, health officials have warned that vaccine distribution will not be able to stop the current wave of infections.
“I want to be very frank to the American people: The vaccine is critical, but it’s not going to save us from this current surge,” Dr. Deborah Birx, head of the White House coronavirus task force, said on December 6. “Only we can save us from this current surge, and we know precisely what to do.”
Dr. Birx added that “this fall-winter surge is combining everything that we saw in the spring with everything that we saw in the summer, plus the fall surge going into a winter surge.”
Some pharmacists were encouraged to find that some vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine contained additional doses, meaning the U.S. has a higher supply of the vaccine than originally thought, Politico reported on Wednesday.
“Given the public health emergency, FDA is advising that it is acceptable to use every full dose obtainable,” an FDA spokesperson said.