On Sunday Dec 20, The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director (CDC) Dr. Robert Redfield accepted the recommendation of the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that ‘Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine should be given to people ages 18 and older in the United States’.

CDC has accepted the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recommendation for use of the second authorized #COVID19 vaccine. With 2 recommended vaccines, ACIP will recommend additional groups for vaccination.

Current recommendations: https://t.co/cYJxH31I3F pic.twitter.com/qOQwyASpSG

— CDC (@CDCgov) December 20, 2020

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday and which was recommended the ACIP on Saturday, according the CNN.

• CDC director accepts advisory committee’s recommendation for Moderna Covid-19 vaccine
• COVID-19 ACIP Vaccine Recommendations
• Distribution of Moderna vaccine set to begin today as coronavirus cases continue to surge
• Minnesota expects 95K Moderna vaccine doses in first batch, after second Pfizer shipment decreased

Distribution of Moderna Vaccine

In anticipation of CDC approval, six million doses of Moderna’s vaccine were shipped out on Monday, according to NBC News.

CNN health’s Madeline Holcombe, Holly Yan and Steve Almasy write that the Moderna’s vaccine was being administered Monday for the first time in US. “One of the first people to get a public dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine was a doctor in Texas who has gone to work, fighting the virus for 277 consecutive days”.

Dr Joseph Veron, a critical care doctor and chief of staff at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, serves largely minority community in a Texas hospital, was the first at his hospital to get the vaccine in an effort to assure others that the vaccine is safe.

This is like having gold. I don’t cry, but I came very close … You know how many lives you can save with this? [..] he has signed far more death certificates during this pandemic than he could have ever imagined. And some of his staff members have fallen sick with Covid-19.

Dr. Joseph Varon from Texas to CNN

According to CDC’s Covid Data Tracker, as of Tuesday morning more than 4.6 millions doses of vaccines have been distributed and more than 614,000 peoples have received their vaccine shots.

MN Expecting 95K Doses Vaccine

Minnesota is reportedly expecting 95000 doses of Moderna vaccine as soon as this week. ” “The challenge in these first weeks is just going to be, how great is the supply and how deep into that prioritization can we get, how fast. In the earlier phases of the planning the expectation was this first phase … was only going to be health care workers,” told MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm.

There are reportedly about 500,000 people in the top priority group for the vaccine in Minnesota.