US: COVID-19 vaccinations underway in California

Vaccinations against COVID-19 have begun in California amid a huge surge in infections and hospitalizations.

Health care workers in San Francisco and Sacramento were being vaccinated Tuesday with some of the initial supplies of the vaccine to arrive in the state.

"I trust the FDA's evaluation process. I trust the experts that we have at this hospital who have seen the data, who have looked at it. And we all...believe that this is a safe vaccine," said Dr. Antonio Gomez with the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

Gomez was the first to receive the vaccine in San Francisco according to local reports.

San Francisco is set to receive some 12,500 doses from Pfizer this week, and a second shipment soon after that, according to a report from KGO-TV.

The first shipments of the Pfizer vaccine left Michigan early Sunday for 145 distribution centers nationwide. California’s initial batch was scheduled to total 325,000 doses arriving over several days. Gov. Gavin Newsom said another 400,000 doses would arrive next week.