More COVID-19 vaccine megasites open nationwide, including at Yankee Stadium
More COVID-19 vaccination megasites opened this week across the country, including at a casino in Missouri and at Yankee Stadium in New York — where a long line formed as it opened on Friday to local residents.
Legendary MLB player Mariano Rivera was there, encouraging people to get their shots. "Now, it's time to support you and let you know that it's okay to be vaccinated," Rivera said.
More sites are on the way. In California, Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara County will become the state's biggest vaccination site when it opens early next week, according to the county and the San Francisco 49ers. The goal is to be able to vaccinate as many as 15,000 people there a day.
The news came after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told President Joe Biden in a letter dated Thursday that the league is making all of its 32 stadiums available as vaccination sites for the general public, Michael George reported for "CBS This Morning: Saturday."
All that real estate may be needed. Another COVID vaccine could be on the way in the United States. Johnson & Johnson filed with the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday for emergency use authorization approval for its one-dose vaccine. Once given the green light, Johnson & Johnson said it expects to supply 100 million doses to the country by June.
The vaccine is 85% effective against the most serious virus symptoms, and 66% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe disease. It would be the third vaccine available on the market, joining Pfizer's and Moderna's stressed supplies
"Clearly, we don't have enough of the Moderna, Pfizer RNA vaccines right at this point to deal with the pandemic in the U.S., let alone the world," said former FDA chief scientist Dr. Jesse Goodman.
More than 26 million COVID-19 cases have now been reported across the United States, and nearly 460,000 people have died due to the virus. Over 36 million vaccine shots currently on the market have been administered nationwide, and 7.5 million people are now fully vaccinated.
Coronavirus variants spreading fast could threaten what progress has been made. A strain first identified in South Africa has now been found in Virginia, one of three states reporting cases. Another strain, first detected in the United Kingdom, has been found nationwide, and recently in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Health officials said the person with the first documented case of the variant in Kalamazoo County had no travel history.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to announce updated guidelines this week to get children back in school. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said this week "there is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated."