According to an analysis of data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it will take until mid-February to get at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine to all eligible Americans at the current rate of vaccination.
In the United States, more than 90 million eligible people are still unvaccinated. Despite the fact that the seven-day average of people starting vaccinations each day is the highest it has been since July 4 at 446,300, many experts say the US is still not where it needs to be to control the pandemic – and the rapidly spreading Delta variant.
With less than half of the population fully immunized, cases have risen again, resulting in serious illness. According to new data from the US Department of Health and Human Services, Covid-19 patients occupied more than 50,000 hospital beds across the country on Tuesday, for the first time since February. That figure has more than tripled from a month ago.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated on Tuesday that he would like the United States to reach a vaccination rate of one million per day in order to close the vaccination gap.
The spread of the Delta variant may make it impossible to completely stop the spread of coronavirus, according to National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins on Tuesday. According to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Delta variant now accounts for an estimated 93.4 percent of coronavirus circulating in the United States.
This includes a number of Delta sub-lineages, all of which are classified as variants of concern. During the last two weeks of July, they accounted for approximately 93.4 percent of all cases.
This figure is even higher in some parts of the country, such as the region that includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, where Delta accounts for more than 98 percent of the virus in circulation.
These figures have risen dramatically in the last two months. Delta’s prevalence, for example, was estimated to be around 3% in the two weeks ending May 22.
At the same time in May, another variant discovered in the UK, Alpha, or B.1.1.7, was the dominant one in the US, accounting for 69% of cases. According to the most recent CDC estimates, that variant accounts for just under 3% of the population.
Although experts have concluded that there is no need for vaccine boosters for the general population, Fauci stated that an effort is underway to obtain them for immunocompromised people.
Some conditions, such as autoimmune diseases, transplants, and chemotherapy-treated cancer, weaken people’s immune systems. The CDC’s vaccine advisers met to discuss whether immunocompromised people might benefit from additional protection from a vaccine booster, but they have not yet presented a formal recommendation or voted on guidance.
During a discussion hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Tuesday, Fauci stated that Covid-19 variants “very likely” evolved in the bodies of immunocompromised people.
People who are immunocompromised may be unable to fight off Covid-19 infections for weeks or even months, giving the virus plenty of time to evolve and change. With the start of the school year raising concerns about protecting children from Covid-19, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported a “substantial” increase in cases among children on Tuesday.
According to the group, nearly 72,000 children and teenagers were infected with Covid-19 last week, which is five times the number at the end of June.
The definition of a child varies by state, but it generally includes people under the age of 17 or 18.
Covid-19 protocols differ across the country, but when children return to school, districts must be prepared to respond to outbreaks quickly.
