59.3 million doses of Corona vaccines distributed, 39mln administered: US CDC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had distributed 59,304,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States and that 39,037,964 doses had been administered as of Saturday morning.

The tallies are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccines as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, the agency said.

According to its tally posted on Friday, the agency had administered 36,819,212 doses of the vaccines and distributed 58,380,300 doses.

The agency said 30,250,964 people had received 1 or more doses, while 8,317,180 people had gotten the second dose as of Saturday.

A total of 4,628,962 doses of vaccine have been administered in long-term care facilities, the agency said.

President Joe Biden’s drive to enact a $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill gained momentum on Friday as the US Senate narrowly approved a budget blueprint allowing Democrats to push the legislation through Congress in coming weeks with or without Republican support.

At the end of about 15 hours of debate and votes on dozens of amendments, the Senate found itself in a 50-50 partisan deadlock over passage of the budget plan. That deadlock was broken by Vice President Kamala Harris, whose “yes” vote provided the win for Democrats.