VIRIN: 201221-A-AD014-001
While this year presented many challenges due to an ongoing pandemic, Soldiers continued to be resilient when faced with uncertainty. Soldiers helped on the frontlines in the COVID-19 response and also kept the peace during times of civil unrest.
An Army Ranger also received the military’s highest honor, while another Medal of Honor recipient left a legacy of selfless service behind following his battle with cancer.
Below are some of the most notable Soldier stories of the year:
Soldiers on COVID-19 frontlines
Thousands of Soldiers, like Maj. Erin Velazquez, were called on to support the nation’s ongoing fight against COVID-19. She led one of the Army Reserve’s Urban Augmentation Medical Task Forces that rapidly deployed starting in March to help exhausted health care workers at civilian hospitals.
Credit: (Kirsten Luce/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
Dec. 15, 2020: Ambulatory Care Technician Kiara Mora Vasquez prepared to give a vaccination for COVID-19 at University Hospital in Newark, on the first day of vaccinations in New Jersey.
New Jersey’s coronavirus vaccine program appeared to get off to a good start last week, with more than 2,000 high-risk health care workers immunized at hospitals around the state.
But New Jersey leaders raised concerns Friday that the state could receive roughly 130,000 fewer doses of the COVID-19 vaccines over the next two weeks than initially expected, due to unexplained changes in the federal government’s shipping plan.
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Nurse Reynaldo Pella, left, was one of five staff members to simultaneously receive the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, N.J., Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New Jersey officials reported Monday an additional 3,186 COVID-19 cases. The total number of cases since Mar. 4 now stands at 435,763. The state also reported 29 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 16,315. Officials are looking into 1,908 probable deaths.
As of Sunday night, 3,607 people are in hospitals for confirmed or suspected cases of the coronavirus; 727 patients are in intensive care, while another 481 are currently on ventilators.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Americans will soon have access to a second COVID-19 vaccine.
Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, granted emergency authorization Friday to a vaccine made by Moderna, a week after giving similar clearance to one made by Pfizer and its German collaborator, BioNTech.
His is authorizing rather than approving the vaccine, because longer-term research is needed to meet the full standards for approval, which officials don t want to wait for during the public health emergency.
The speedy path to authorization was possible because the agency “cut through regulatory red tape,” Hahn said at a Friday night press conference. We worked quickly based on the urgency of this global pandemic . we have not cut corners.
The reason for the smaller shipments is not entirely clear, to the public or to state officials.
“I don’t think we’ve gotten a satisfactory reason why, Gov. Phil Murphy said. There was at least some sense they were trying to smooth out the numbers, giving us more predictability, but at the same time lowering it.”
Trump administration officials on Thursday cited confusion over changes to the delivery schedule rather than the available amount of the vaccine. The Associated Press cited two senior Trump administration officials who said a request from governors to space out delivery over several days a week may be leading to an impression that fewer doses are coming.