Trucks leave to distribute virus vaccine around US

first trucks carrying a COVID-19 vaccine for widespre use in United States pulled out of a Michigan manufacturing plant on Sunday, with shots that are critical to stopping nation's coronavirus outbreak destined to reach states a day later.An assembly line of workers began in early morning hours pulling doses out of a freezer, boxing vaccine and loing units onto pallets so y could be placed on trucks at a Pfizer plant in Michigan.

One forklift driver transported boxes to a loing area where a second forklift driver transferred pallets from inside facility onto a semitruck. Shipments of Pfizer vaccine will set in motion biggest vaccination effort in American history at a critical juncture of pandemic that has killed 1.6 million and sickened 71 million worldwide.

Initially, about 3 million doses were expected to be sent out, and priority is health care workers and nursing home residents as infections, hospitalizations and deaths soar in US.With numbers likely to get worse over holidays, vaccine is offering a bright spot in fight against pandemic that's killed nearly 300,000 Americans.

(Im Credit: AP)