Tens of millions of Americans have not yet started their vaccinations, National Health Institute director Dr. Francis Collins said Wednesday. our. “
“We really need to figure out how to get the messages out there so that those who are still undecided get the information they need to see why they really want to do that.”
But experts say the US needs much higher levels of vaccination to control the virus.
“If we get through this terrible pandemic, it will take most of us immunized. Otherwise, the virus can go on and on,” Collins said.
And efforts – federal, state and local – are underway to increase these vaccination numbers.
“I think our effort is moving and moving towards younger people who just don’t think about Covid as much,” Andy Slavitt, White House chief adviser on Covid-19, told CNN.
“We are really close to that light at the end of the tunnel. Those of you who have not yet been vaccinated, please get a vaccine as soon as you can. Do it for yourself, do it for your family, do it for your friends and do this so that we can all put this global pandemic behind us, “Hogan said in a statement.
Hundreds of Americans die every day
While many government leaders are nearing the end of the pandemic, US Covid-19 figures are still high.
In the last week, an average of over 62,900 Covid-19 infections have been reported daily, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
And hundreds of Americans still lose their lives every day. In the last week alone, the United States has reported more than 4,900 Covid-19 deaths.
In Washington, Covid-19 cases are on the rise in most counties and hospitalizations are on the rise, with a sharp rise in the number of young adults hospitalized, said Dr. Umair Shah, the state’s health secretary.
And most counties have detected variants, Shah said.
A new study highlights the importance of vaccinations
Of the 417 Rockefeller University employees who were completely vaccinated with either Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, only two had infections discovered later, according to the study.
The researchers found that variants with several differences from the original virus caused those infections discovered.
“We have characterized good faith examples of the discovery of the vaccine as a clinical symptom,” they wrote. “These observations in no way undermine the importance of urgent federal and state efforts to vaccinate the U.S. population.” support efforts to advance a new vaccine booster (as well as a pan-coronavirus vaccine) to provide increased protection against variants. “
Another study that looked at infections in Chicago nursing homes found that most fully vaccinated residents were not infected with the virus even after someone in the same unit tested positive.
Of these discovery cases, two-thirds were asymptomatic. Two residents were hospitalized and one of those residents died, the CDC said. The person who died had three basic conditions, the agency added.
Rebekah Riess, Jen Christensen, Jacqueline Howard and Jenn Selva contributed to this report.