December 14 coronavirus news

At least half of the states across the US have received their first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

According to statements from the state's departments of health, governor’s offices and local hospitals — 25 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico have all received their first shipment of the vaccine.

It is important to note, that not all of these states have started administering the vaccine, but they have received it. 

CNN will continue to update this list as the week goes on and as more shipments are received.

Here's a list of the states that have received a shipment of the vaccine so far:

The District of Columbia also received a shipment of the vaccine.

Pennsylvania announced today it has started administering the Covid-19 vaccine to residents, as the commonwealth reported 18,646 new cases of Covid-19 and 330 deaths over the weekend, according to the state's Department of Health.

The vaccine was given to health care workers at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh this morning, Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said during a news conference.

The commonwealth's positivity rate leapt from 14.4% to 16.2% for the week ending on Dec. 10, according to the governor's office.

More on the vaccine: The state expects to receive 97,500 Covid-19 vaccine doses this week, which will go to 83 hospitals throughout Pennsylvania, according to Levine.

Philadelphia has a separate vaccine plan, although the county is working closely with the state, she added.

The US can expect to see an additional 581 shipments of Covid-19 vaccine through the rest of the week, Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, said during a news conference on Monday.  

Those shipments are part of the initial 2.9 million doses that will be distributed nationwide.

As of Monday, coronavirus vaccines already are being sent to 145 sites.

 Of those 145 shipments, "we know that 55 have been received. And we'll track the remaining 95 accordingly as we go through the day. We know that the shipments for tomorrow's deliveries have already been packed and checked, and we'll be managing each of those to include Wednesday's shipment," Perna said during a news conference on Monday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on MSNBC Monday that he is certain President-elect Joe Biden will get vaccinated and discussions about when that will take place are happening now.

About the vaccine: The US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine Friday, and it's widely expected to grant EUA to Moderna's similar vaccine next week. Vaccinations in the US started this morning.

A personal support care worker in Toronto was among Canada’s first recipient of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine Monday as the country began distributing its first 30,000 doses across the country.

Anita Quidangen has been a personal support worker for nearly three decades and provincial officials say she has worked tirelessly at the Rekai Centre, one of Toronto’s hard hit long-term care homes.

Applause broke out after Quidangen received her shot, as more health care workers lined up for their vaccinations. It is a mostly symbolic rollout as Canada works to secure vaccines more quickly from Pfizer-BioNTech and other international manufacturers.

Canada says it expects to receive about 249,000 doses of the vaccine before the end of the year but is awaiting at least 20 million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech.

The country completed a "dry-run" of vaccine distribution last week and officials reported no problems providing a timely and secure delivery.

Canada’s doses will be distributed from Pfizer’s European production hubs and not from the US supply of vaccine.

Earlier Monday federal officials say they are continuing to negotiate "hard" to receive as many vaccine doses as possible, as quickly as possible.  

“Notably, our portfolio consists of signed agreements with seven vaccine manufacturers that will provide us with access to up to 414 million doses, the most number of doses per capita of any country in the world,”  said Anita Anand, Canada minister of procurement and the woman who has led efforts to put together Canada’s vaccine portfolio.

Canada also announced it would spend about $400 million more to help developing countries access testing, therapeutics and vaccines. Federal officials say they have so far contributed more than $800 million dollars in the global effort to help developing countries cope with Covid-19. 

Clarification: An earlier version of this story described as Anita Quidangen as Canada’s first recipient of the Covid-19 vaccine. She was among the first to receive the vaccine.

Covid-19 vaccinations are expected to start in nursing homes this week, said Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed. 

"We're working through the state plans and the guidance that was put out was that long-term health care facilities slash nursing homes was one priority, but as well as the first-line medical personnel," he said. "Allocations for vaccines went out to the states, to the locations that they directed, and they are identifying in those populations who is first."

Perna added, "On Monday, a week from today, over 1,100 long-term health care facilities and nursing homes will also begin vaccinations."

US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said during the news conference that the date of Dec. 21 for vaccinations came up during discussions that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had in working with CVS and Walgreens. 

"But there's no prohibition on distributing and vaccinating sooner," Azar said. 

"In fact, we encourage it sooner," he added. "We expect to see vaccinations this week."

Some Americans across the US are getting the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine today.

But the milestone comes as the coronavirus pandemic is surging across the country.

The United States reported more than 109,300 current Covid-19 hospitalizations on Sunday, setting a new record high since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

And the US is also nearing 300,000 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.

Experts are urging Americans to not let up their guards despite today's good vaccine news. Remember: It will be several months before most Americans can get a Covid-19 vaccine.

The director of the National Institutes of Health warned that even those who get the vaccine should keep wearing masks for the foreseeable future.

Maricopa County Public Health has announced that it has received their first shipment of the Covid-19 vaccine today in a tweet.

"The countdown to dispensing is on..." the county added.

Maricopa is Arizona's most populous county.

See the full tweet:

Dr. Anthony Fauci told MSNBC Monday that people living in the US with no underlying health conditions should expect to get a Covid-19 vaccine at the end of March or the beginning of April.

Additionally, Fauci said that by the second quarter of 2021, we could see the "overwhelming majority of the population vaccinated." 

"I believe if we're efficient about it, and we convince people to get vaccinated, we can accomplish that by the end of the second quarter of 2021, namely, by the end of the late spring early summer, I believe we can get there by then, so that by the time we get into the fall, we can start approaching some degree of relief, where the level of infection will be so low in society, we can start essentially approaching some form of normality," Fauci said.