Immune To COVID? New Study Suggests Why

Dr. Anthony Fauci said at a White House briefing Thursday evening that a coronavirus vaccine will be available to "high priority" groups within the next six weeks.

“We now … are telling you that help is on the way," Fauci said. "Which has two aspects to it. It means that we need to actually double down on the public health measures as we’re waiting for that help to come, which will be soon. We’ll be getting vaccine doses into people at high priority at the end of December.”

The news comes as COVID-19 deaths topped 250,000 in the United States, another grim milestone amid weeks of record case numbers, surging hospitalizations and dire warnings from health experts.

(WATCH: Why I'm Excited About What's Happening in My COVID-19 Vaccine Trial)

Fauci added that things like mask-wearing and social distancing need to continue.

“If you’re fighting a battle and the cavalry is on its way, you don’t stop shooting, you keep going until the cavalry gets here and then you might even want to continue fighting," Fauci said.

He said the second step is to encourage everyone to get vaccinated.

Vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna both announced this week that their vaccines proved more than 94% effective in trials.

“That is extraordinary,” Fauci said. “That is almost to the level of what we see with measles (vaccine), which is 98% effective.”

Earlier in the briefing, Vice President Mike Pence vowed that vaccines would be distributed as soon as they are authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.

“The day after one of these vaccines is approved we’ll be shipping vaccines to the American people and within a day after that we’ll be seeing those vaccines injected into Americans, with a particular focus on those most vulnerable and those that are providing health care to the American people," Pence said.

The number of dead in the U.S. because of COVID-19 was 251,970 at the time of the briefing, according to data tracked by Johns Hopkins University. That's higher than any other country and accounts for nearly one-fifth of the 1.3 million deaths worldwide.

More than 11.6 million people in the U.S. and 56 million worldwide have been infected since the pandemic started in early spring.

Latest Developments

United States

-California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued what's being called a "limited stay at home order" that prohibits non-essential work and gatherings from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The order applies to 41 counties that are in the highest tier of the state's risk level.

-The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging everyone to stay home and avoid travel over Thanksgiving, in hopes of slowing the relentless coronavirus pandemic. "Amid this critical phase, the CDC is recommending against travel during the Thanksgiving period," Dr. Henry Walke, the agency's COVID-19 incident manager, said during a news briefing Thursday, according to the New York Times. Walke said it's not just travel in and of itself that has officials alarmed, but also other activities that occur along with it, such as crowds and long lines. The agency's advice is included in guidelines on its website that were updated Thursday.

-New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu issued a statewide mask mandate that will go into effect Friday. More than three dozen states now have some sort of face covering rule in place, according to a tally being kept by AARP.

-The Smithsonian Institution announced that its museums and the National Zoo will close to the public for an undetermined amount of time starting Monday "due to rising regional and national cases related to the COVID-19 pandemic." The closing affects eight museums and the zoo in the Washington D.C. region that reopened in September afte being closed for months.

-The City of Key West, Florida, amended its mask ordinance Thursday, saying anyone who steps outside a building must wear a face covering, even when social distancing. About 1,400 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Key West, according to the Monroe County Health Department. The city has a population of about 24,000 people.

-The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S. doubled over the past month and set new records every day this week, pushing medical facilities and healthcare providers to the brink in several states. "We are depressed, disheartened and tired to the bone," Alison Johnson, director of critical care at Johnson City Medical Center in Tennessee, told the Associated Press. Johnson said she's sometimes in tears as she drives to and from work.

-Parents and students in New York City protested an order from Mayor Bill de Blasio that shut down in-person learning and moved all of the city's 1.1 million public school students back to virtual learning on Thursday, WABC-TV reported. With 1,866 schools, the city has the largest school district in the nation. Officials had previously said schools would close if the test positivity rate reached 3%, which it did this week.

-Kentucky shut down in-person learning at schools and instituted a new round of restrictions that go into effect Friday, including limiting bars and restaurants to carry out, delivery or outdoor seating only. Gov. Andy Beshear called the move "significant, but surgical and targeted steps designed to slow the spread of the virus and protect our people." The state reported a record 33 deaths on Tuesday.

-A two-week "freeze" on activities starts Friday in Oregon, limiting at-home and social gatherings, lowering capacity in stores and retail outlets, restricting food and drink service to takeout only and requiring employers to mandate work-from-home policies as much as possible. The order from Gov. Kate Brown also closes certain businesses, including gyms and museums.

-An intubated patient at a hospital in Ogden, Utah, played the violin as a way to thank his caregivers. Grover Wilhelmsen, a retired orchestra teacher who was being treated for COVID-19 at McKay-Dee Hospital, wrote a note to a nurse to ask if his wife could deliver his violin and viola to the hospital, according to a news release. She did, and Wilhelmsen played for several hours over two days. One of his nurses broadcast the music so others could hear. "It was a small light in the darkness of COVID," nurse Matt Harper said.

Worldwide

-Data released Thursday showed a vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University generated a strong immune response in older adults, Reuters reported.

-A recent survey in Britain showed that seven out of 10 restaurant and pub owners fear they will close in the next year due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Guardian reported.

-The government in New Delhi is adding 1,400 new intensive care unit beds to help ease the strain on hospitals, according to the AP. India has recorded 8.9 million cases of COVID-19, the second-highest number in the world behind the U.S.

-Japan, widely considered to have a handle on the virus, saw a record number of new infections on Thursday when the Health Ministry reported 2,179 cases. It’s the first time Japan has had more than 2,000 new cases in a single day.

-The Pacific island nation of Samoa may have its first case of coronavirus. The Samoa Observer reported that a sailor who had flown in from Auckland, New Zealand, tested positive on Friday but a second test came back negative. The man was in isolation at a local hospital.

For the latest coronavirus information in your county and a full list of important resources to help you make the smartest decisions regarding the disease, check out our dedicated COVID-19 page.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.