By week’s end, as the county’s death toll had hit 561 and California recorded more than 41,000 new cases and 300 deaths in a single day Friday, health care workers were continuing to receive the new Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The rollout will continue over the coming days, weeks and months in phases, with the highest risk first in line. By phase 4, everyone in the U.S. should have a chance for the shot.
“Hope is springing up everywhere,” Dr. Scott Neeley, vice president and chief medical officer at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stockton, said in a virtual community update Friday. “We can see the light at the end of the tunnel with respect to this pandemic, but we have to stay safe together.”