The coronavirus vaccine has been administered to 1 million Americans in the last 10 days, the CDC reported on Wednesday.
The first vaccinations were administered to Americans early last week after Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine received an emergency use authorization. Pfizer said last week that it had distributed 2.9 million doses of the vaccine throughout the United States.
Earlier this week, Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine candidate began being administered to Americans.
So far, there have been over 9.4 million doses of the vaccine distributed throughout the US. Getting them administered is taking some time.
Although 1 million vaccinations is a significant milestone, it is a fraction of the vaccinations needed to stop the spread of the virus. The first round of vaccinations are intended for 24 million Americans who work in health care settings or who live or work assisted living facilities. The next step will be to vaccinate 21 million Americans over the age of 75 and 30 million front-line workers, such as teachers, first responders and grocery store employees.
“While we celebrate this historic milestone, we also acknowledge the challenging path ahead,” CDC director Robert Redfield said in a statement. “There is currently a limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S., but supply will increase in the weeks and months to come. The goal is for everyone to be able to easily get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as large enough quantities are available.”
Those who have received their first dose of the vaccine will need to return for a booster in 21 to 28 days, depending on the vaccine administered.