More than 165-million Americans have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, as the country ramps up its daily doses to close on three million shots per day.
While officials are lauding the fact that the country with the highest death toll and accumulative caseload is outpacing much of the world in immunising its population, they continue to raise alarm at rising case numbers. They’re also still concerned that an average of slightly below 900 deaths per day were recorded over a seven-day period.
Fully vaccinated individuals make up 18.5% or 61 million members of the US population; while more than 32% have received at least one dose.
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients says, “We are in a life-and-death race against the virus, and the war against this virus is far from won. Even as we’re vaccinating record numbers of people, we have many more people to get vaccinated and we are seeing cases rise.
Our whole government response is accelerating to get Americans vaccinated as quickly, efficiently, and equitably as possible. We are working to put this pandemic behind us as fast as we can, but we’re not there yet. So we need everyone to do their part. That’s why the President called on every governor, mayor, and local leader to maintain or reinstate mask mandates.”
Over 165 million Americans receive at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine:
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest data shows cases at a seven-day average of 62 000 per day with close to 5 000 daily hospitalisations. And while new guidance says fully vaccinated people can resume non-essential travel at low risk to themselves, the CDC is not recommending travel at this time due to concerns of a fourth wave in the country. A graphic representation shows that after months of decline in daily case numbers, a plateau near the end has begun to trend upwards again.
Director of the US Centres for Disease Control, Dr Rochelle Walensky, says, “The science on COVID-19 is constantly evolving. We will continue to monitor the evidence and provide updates as we learn more. With so many people still unvaccinated, it is important that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, continue to take prevention measures in public and adhere to our guidance on ways to reduce the spread of COVID 19: Wear a mask, physically distance, avoid crowds and poorly ventilated areas, and wash your hands frequently. And while we believe that fully vaccinated people can travel at low risk to themselves, CDC is not recommending travel at this time due to the rising number of cases.”
After a study of 800 volunteers in South Africa, a new data from Pfizer-BionTech showed continued efficacy of its vaccine where the B.1.351 variant is widespread.
Chief Medical Advisor to the US President , Dr Anthony Fauci says, “I want to point out one aspect of this that is very interesting. Part of the study was done in South Africa. Although it was relatively small in size, they showed, in the setting of the troublesome B1351 South African variant, that there was six cases in the placebo and zero in the vaccinated group – strongly suggesting the efficacy of the vaccines that we’re using now against problematic variants. So the bottom-line message is that vaccines work very well in the real-world setting. They work against variants, although we need further data to confirm that. They are durable for at least six months. And they work in adolescence. Very, very good reason for everyone to get vaccinated as soon as it becomes available to you.”
President Biden has indicated they’re aiming to administer at least 200 million shots during his first 100 days in office, with at least 34 states expected to be administering shots to all adults 16 years and above by mid-April.
