Half of the US population were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the White House.
US POPULATION — Half of the population in the United States were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the White House.
In a tweet, White House COVID-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar said on Friday that 50% of Americans were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as vaccinations increased in response to the surging Delta COVID-19 variant.
This means over 165 million people have received either the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or the one-and-done Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccine. The threshold of 50% of all adult Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19 was reached in late May.
According to Shahpar, the seven-day average of newly vaccinated people was increased to 11% from last week and increased to 44% over the past two weeks.
Last Thursday, White House COVID coordinator Jeff Zients said that the average number of people getting vaccinated each day had increased for four straight weeks.
The US was the nation hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic with 615,000 coronavirus deaths. United States President Joe Biden had been pressing hard for Americans to get inoculated against COVID-19 ever since he took office last January.
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Inquirer reported that the aggressive vaccination program in the United States had raised hopes of a return to some semblance of normal life this summer, but the said plan didn’t pan out due to the Delta COVID-19 variant.
After peaking last April, the rate of new COVID-19 vaccinations fell off sharply.
Daily new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths were up sharply in recent weeks, and cities like Los Angeles and New York were implementing new restrictions such as demanding proof of vaccination for entering indoor venues such as gyms and restaurants.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC), the level of community transmission of the coronavirus disease was “high” or “substantial” in 85% of the country.
Inquirer also reported that coronavirus hospitalizations in the US were up to a nationwide daily average of around 7,300 per day in the seven days, adding that coronavirus deaths were up sharply at around 380 per day.
Breakout cases of coronavirus infection among vaccinated people were still rare but preliminary research showed that when they did happen, the risk of contagion was greater than with previous strains of the coronavirus disease. This posed a higher risk for the non-vaccinated people who came into contact with infected vaccinated people.
In light of all those numbers, the CDC recently changed course and recommended the wearing of face masks indoors in high risk areas, even for people who were vaccinated against COVID-19.
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