COVID Live Updates: 346K doses of Moderna vaccine doses to be shipped to New York Sunday

COVID-19 Live Updates, News and Information

ByEyewitness News WABC logo

Monday, December 21, 2020

346,000 doses of Moderna vaccine to be shipped to Tri-State area Sunday

Diana Rocco has more on the Modera vaccine shipments.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Health professionals will have another tool in the fight against the virus.

Nearly six million doses of Moderna's vaccine expected to start shipping across the country Sunday.

New York is expecting to see nearly 350,000 of the newest vaccine statewide this week.

First in line will be health care workers at hospitals at Mount Sinai and others.

Also, vaccines will be made available this week to the FDNY starting with EMS and then NYPD.

Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are nearly 95% effective.

What to know about coronavirus:

When can you get the COVID vaccine?

Where to get tested in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut

Coronavirus by zip code - New York City

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Here are more of today's headlines:

NYC authorities shut down illegal club with 160 people inside

New York City Sheriff's deputies shut down an illegal club in Queens early Sunday with more than 160 inside. Attendees apparently used a rear alleyway to enter the illegal club.

Panel votes to put elderly, essential workers next in line

An expert committee put people 75 and older and essential workers like firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers next in line for COVID-19 shots as a second vaccine began rolling out Sunday to hospitals, a desperately needed boost as the nation works to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control.

The developments occurred as the nation seeks to ramp up a vaccination program that only began in the last week and so far has given initial shots to about 556,000 Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

8 nuns at Wisconsin retirement home die of COVID-19 in one week

Eight nuns living at a retirement home for sisters in suburban Milwaukee died of COVID-19 complications in the last week - including four who passed away on the same day - a grim reminder of how quickly the virus can spread in congregate living situations, even when precautions are taken.

Notre Dame of Elm Grove had been free of the virus for the last nine months, but the congregation that runs the home found out on Thanksgiving Day that one of the roughly 100 sisters who live there had tested positive.

Despite social distancing and other mitigation efforts that were already in place, several more positive tests followed, said Sister Debra Marie Sciano, the provincial leader for School Sisters of Notre Dame Central Pacific Province.

'Reprehensible' that US isn't taking action on new COVID variant in UK: Cuomo

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is questioning why six flights are arriving at JFK Airport daily from the United Kingdom, despite a new variant of the virus spreading there.

Cuomo said 120 countries now require a negative test before arriving from the U.K., and some European countries have begun closing their borders. But the U.S. has not, and Cuomo called that "reprehensible."

Expert says it could be early fall before vaccines available to all

President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for U.S. surgeon general says it's more realistic to think it may be mid-summer or early fall before coronavirus vaccines are available to the general population in the United States, rather than late spring.

Speaking on Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Vivek Murthy said Biden's team is working toward having coronavirus vaccines available to lower-risk individuals by late spring but doing so requires "everything to go exactly on schedule."

New York indicators

There are a total of 6,185 COVID hospitalizations in New York. Of the 197,251 tests reported Saturday, 9,957 were positive (5.05% of total). There were 123 fatalities.

Fears of UK's rapid-spreading COVID-19 strain prompt flight bans in several EU nations

Several European Union nations on Sunday banned flights from the U.K. and Germany was considering limiting such flights to make sure that a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England does not establish a strong foothold on the continent.

The Netherlands banned flights from the U.K. for at least the rest of the year while Belgium issued a flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight and also halted train links to Britain, including the Eurostar. Austria and Italy said they would halt flights from the U.K. but did not give details on any timing of the ban.

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine rolls out of shipping warehouse

Initial shipments of the second COVID-19 vaccine authorized in the U.S. left a distribution center Sunday, a desperately needed boost as the nation works to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control.

The trucks left the factory in the Memphis area with the vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health. The much-needed shots are expected to be given starting Monday, just three days after the Food and Drug Administration authorized their emergency rollout.

State senator dies from COVID-19 complications

Minnesota State Republican Sen. Jerry Relph has died due to complications from COVID-19.The 76-year-old began serving in the Minnesota Senate in 2017 and represented the 14th district that includes St. Cloud.

Agreement likely Sunday on nearly $1 trillion COVID-19 relief bill

Top Washington negotiators, propelled by a late-night agreement on the last major obstacle to a COVID-19 economic relief package, said a Sunday agreement is all but inevitable to deliver long-overdue pandemic aid of almost $1 trillion.

USPS says deadline for shipping gifts in time for Christmas passes

Haven't sent out those presents yet in time for the holidays? Well, looks like you may be out of luck! U.S. Postal Service officials say that Friday was the deadline for getting packages to their destination in time for Christmas.