How long it’ll take to vaccinate 20 million Americans

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On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, making it the second authorized shot in the US. The first batches of the vaccine started getting shipped out on Sunday. 

Even with the promise of two coronavirus vaccines, we’re still early in the vaccination process.

Dr. Vivek Murthy, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for surgeon general said Americans should prepare for widespread vaccination by “mid-summer, early fall.” A CDC panel on Sunday recommended that essential frontline workers and people 75 and older should be in the next wave to receive the shots. All that’s happening while a mutant coronavirus strain bares down on the UK.

Also in healthcare news:  It'll take longer than promised to vaccinate 20 million Americans, Tennessee frontline healthcare workers share what it's like to get a vaccine, and Moderna's 39-page slide deck from 2017. 

Moderna's vaccine authorization means the US will ship nearly 8 million doses next week - but it'll take longer than promised to vaccinate the first 20 million Americans

• The US plans to ship 7.9 million doses of coronavirus vaccines this week, to more than 3,700 locations.
• But officials with Operation Warp Speed say it will take longer than expected to get the first 20 million Americans their doses.
• The goal had been to reach the 20 million mark by year's end, but now that will take until the first week of January, according to Warp Speed's chief operating officer.
•  Moderna's COVID-19 shot was authorized Friday, boosting the US vaccine supply.

Read the full story from Andrew Dunn here>>

'Our first glimmer of hope': Healthcare workers reflect on a devastating year and a brighter future as they get the first COVID-19 shots

• Frontline healthcare workers from seven of TriStar Health's hospitals in middle Tennessee received some of the first COVID-19 vaccines in the state on Thursday.
• Healthcare workers who got shots said they were excited, relieved, and hopeful that the availability of COVID-19 vaccines spelled the end of the pandemic.
• TriStar, which is part of big hospital chain HCA Healthcare, received 2,925 doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Thursday and gave out 550 doses.

Read the full story from Shelby Livingston here>>

See the 39-slide presentation that Moderna used to win over investors before the upstart became the hottest company in biotech

• We got ahold of the presentation that biotech upstart Moderna used to pitch investors in 2017.
• At the time, Moderna had already raised more than $1 billion. The startup went on to raise $500 million in early 2018, before going public in December 2018.
• This year, the upstart Massachusetts biotech became the first company in the world to test a coronavirus vaccine in people.

Read the full presentation here>>

More stories we're reading:

• WATCH: How Amazon is taking on the healthcare industry (Business Insider)
• The largest county in the nation, Los Angeles county, ran out of ICU beds at its main public hospital (Kaiser Health News) 
• Doctors protested Stanford hospital's vaccine rollout after the algorithm it used left out frontline workers and gave shots to high-ranking officials and employees working from home instead (Business Insider)
• States aren't doing enough to combat vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans (ProPublica)
• A Bloomberg reporter quit her job and upended her life for "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli (Elle)

-Lydia