Coronavirus updates: Daily deaths hit new high the same day FDA authorizes Pfizer vaccine; 1 in 8 hospitals are out of ICU beds

Coronavirus updates: Daily deaths hit new high the same day FDA authorizes Pfizer vaccine; 1 in 8 hospitals are out of ICU beds CDC advisers meet today to make final recommendations on who should get the vaccine first. US set another daily record for deaths. Latest COVID news. Joshua Bote, Grace Hauck and Joel Shannon USA TODAY

The United States is on the cusp of having lost 300,000 people to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, federal regulators are under intense pressure to quickly roll out a newly-authorized vaccine to health care and other frontline workers nationwide.

Here are today's top headlines:

• The Food and Drug Administration late Friday granted emergency authorization to Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine that data shows is highly effective at preventing a disease that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans. A FDA press conference on is scheduled for 9 a.m. ET Saturday.
• In a video announcing the emergency authorization, President Donald Trump called the vaccine a “medical miracle” that will “save millions of lives and end the pandemic once and for all.” He said the first doses would be administered in the U.S. "in less than 24 hours."
• The promising news will not immediately end the pandemic, which is still raging out of control. Dr. Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech estimated it would be until March or April before the vaccine could impact the virus' spread — underscoring the need for measures like mask-wearing and social distancing in the meantime. 
• About 1 in 8 U.S. hospitals had little or no intensive care unit beds available last week, according to new federal data. Experts say the number of hospitals struggling to accommodate the nation's sickest patients likely will increase following another week of record COVID-19 cases.
• On Friday, 3,309 people in the U.S. died from the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The previous record was set Wednesday at 3,124, the first time the daily death toll surpassed 3,000. TAs of Saturday, more than 295,500 people in the U.S. have died, with more than 15.8 confirmed cases. The global totals: 71.2 million cases and nearly 1.6 million deaths. ...