President Joe Biden, in his first primetime address Thursday night, said he will direct states to make all adults eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine by May 1. The directive adds some uniformity to what has been a largely piecemeal vaccine rollout in which states have determined who is eligible for the shots. Biden also on Thursday signed the $1.9 trillion stimulus package, triggering crucial aid for governments and businesses and clearing the path for direct payments to hit Americans' bank accounts as soon as this weekend.
Here are the biggest developments Friday:
- U.S. tops 100 million vaccine doses administered
- AstraZeneca says 'no evidence' of blood clot-related issues in vaccine recipients
- WHO authorizes J&J vaccine for international use
- Goldman Sachs wants employees back in the office by summer
- The EU says AstraZeneca isn't doing enough to meet its delivery targets
- Michigan expanding vaccine eligibility to residents 16 and older on April 5
The U.S. is recording at least 53,700 new Covid-19 cases and at least 1,3 virus-related deaths each day, based on a seven-day average calculated by CNBC using Johns Hopkins University data.
The following data was compiled by Johns Hopkins University:
- Global cases: More than 118.86 million
- Global deaths: At least 2.63 million
- U.S. cases: More than 29.32 million
- U.S. deaths: At least 531,912