Anthony Fauci

A new, more infectious strain of the coronavirus has now spread to at least eight US states, official data showed Friday, as the country logged a record new daily virus caseload.

Two top U.S. health officials on Sunday disputed a claim by President Donald Trump that federal data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in the United States is overblown, and both expressed optimism that the pace of vaccinations is picking up.

Infections have been surging in recent months, with top US government scientist Anthony Fauci warning just days after Christmas that the worst of the pandemic may be yet to come, driving the country to a “critical point” as holiday travel spreads the virus.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved for emergency use a second coronavirus vaccine produced by American biotechnology company, Moderna.

Even as high profile figures like U.S. Vice President Mike Pence rolled up their sleeves for COVID-19 vaccinations, patients already ill with the disease crowded emergency rooms and overran intensive care units in California, now a worldwide epicenter.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence received his COVID-19 vaccine live on television on Friday, seeking to shore up public support for vaccinations as U.S. regulators were on the cusp of approving a second vaccine for emergency use.

The United States extended its rollout of the first authorized COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, inoculating healthcare workers as part of a massive campaign to protect all Americans and contain a U.S. outbreak that has killed more than 300,000 people.

The United States extended its rollout of the first authorized COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, inoculating healthcare workers with an eye toward persuading skeptical Americans to get their shots and contain a pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 people.

An intensive care unit nurse became the first person in the United States to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, calling it a sign that “healing is coming,” as the U.S. coronavirus death toll crossed a staggering 300,000 lives lost.

Time Magazine names its Person of the Year for 2020 on Thursday, choosing the winner from nominees that include healthcare workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the racial justice movement and two U.S. presidential election winners.

President-elect Joe Biden introduced the team to lead his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, emphasizing the mass vaccination distribution needed to achieve his goal of 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office.

Anthony Fauci, the U.S. infectious diseases expert, criticised UK regulators on Thursday for the swift approval of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19, a day after that approval was announced in London.

Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton are volunteering to take a coronavirus vaccine on camera if it will help promote public confidence.

As newly reported cases of the coronavirus continued to spike across much of the United States, breaking records for hospitalisations, some local leaders are moving to enact more stringent restrictions.

U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar said Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine could be authorized and shipped within days of a Dec. 10 meeting of outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration tasked with reviewing trial data and recommending whether it warrants approval. A vaccine from Moderna Inc could follow a week later, he said, after the company announced on Monday that it would apply for U.S. and European emergency authorization.

“These vaccines are highly effective,” Moncef Slaoui, the chief scientific adviser for Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government’s effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine, told ABC’s “This Week” show. "I feel very comfortable taking the vaccine.”

US giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech prepared Friday to file an emergency request to roll out their vaunted vaccine while New York shut its schools and California braced for nighttime curfews heading into the US holiday season.

Twitter has banned an account belonging to Steve Bannon, a former adviser to the U.S President Donald Trump, for calling for the beheading of Anthony Fauci, the American physician overseeing the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., the U.S media has reported.