Coronavirus – USA: Goal Achieved… One Month Delayed – 70% of Adults Vaccinated

The goal is to vaccinate 70% of adults against coronavirus on USA, at least in one installment, was reached almost a month after the date set by President Joe Biden. At the same time, hospital admissions have reached levels comparable to those of last summer, according to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US federal primary public health agency, 60.6% of adults and 49.7% of the total population are now fully vaccinated.

It is recalled that Joe Biden had initially set a target of 70% to have received at least one dose of one of the approved vaccines by July 4, the day of the American national holiday.

But the slowdown in the vaccination campaign, especially in traditionally conservative states in the south and southwest of the country, as well as among the youngest, poorest and members of ethnic and tribal minorities, has delayed its achievement.

This delay, combined with the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, triggered the outbreak of the average number of infections confirmed on a daily basis, which currently exceeds 70,000 and is growing rapidly.

An average of 6,200 patients with COVID-19 are admitted to US hospitals a day – and more than 300 of them die.

“These cases are concentrated in communities where vaccination rates are lower,” Jeff Zayenz, the White House’s national pandemic coordinator, told reporters.

“One in three cases nationwide was diagnosed in Florida and Texas last week,” he said.

Vaccines remain effective

However, there is an increase in vaccinations for COVID-19, especially in the areas most affected by the new pandemic.

The eight states hardest hit are seeing a 171% increase in vaccinations on a daily basis compared to the level recorded three weeks earlier, Zayedz explained. This mainly concerns Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The private sector has also begun to push in this direction: Disney and Walmart, two of the largest employers in the US, have encouraged or made it mandatory to immunize their employees.

Public officials are not far behind: Joe Biden announced a series of measures on Thursday to raise his level vaccination, among them that it is now mandatory for millions of federal public officials to be vaccinated, or to undergo frequent tests and to wear a mask constantly in a different case.

Although the Delta variant is considered a threat, vaccines allow most of those who have received it to develop severe forms of COVID-19.

According to health authorities, vaccinated people are 8 times less likely to get sick and 25 times less likely to be hospitalized or die.

In Tennessee, 97% of COVID-19 hospital admissions and 98% of deaths in July in the United States were unvaccinated.

Outbreaks appear to be exacerbated during childhood and adolescence, although preliminary studies have shown that the risk of Delta infection is higher than in previous cases.

Given these data, the CDC has reiterated its recommendation to use the mask indoors in high-risk areas, even by those who have been fully vaccinated.

Eight counties in the San Francisco Bay Area made mask use mandatory again yesterday, as did Louisiana.

“It is clear that the current restrictions alone are not enough,” said John Bell Edwards, the Democratic governor of Louisiana, explaining that he made the decision following recommendations from public health experts.

Moreover, Federal authorities are discussing the possibility of giving a third dose of vaccine to certain groups of the population, such as the immunocompromised, following a similar decision taken by the Israeli authorities.

The United States remains the country hardest hit by the new global coronavirus pandemic, with more than 613,000 deaths from COVID-19 out of a total of 35.2 million SARS-CoV-2 infections so far.