US reaches 70% vaccination rates as Delta variant continues to spread

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The US has reached a 70 percent vaccination rate from the total adult population, having been administered with at least their first dose.
• COVID-19 cases soared to over 150 percent nationwide in the last two weeks.
• The ‘COVID-19 hotspot’ states have likewise registered the highest number of vaccinations in recent weeks.

The US has finally reached at least 70 percent of its adult population to get vaccinated ━ with the highly infectious delta variant as the driving factor on the influx of recent vaccinations across the country.

Originally, President Joe Biden’s objective was to get 7 out of 10 adult Americans to receive at least one dose by July 4th, but it was constrained by people who remain skeptic of the vaccine, who specifically reside in the conservative areas and regions.

Over the last two weeks, the new wave of COVID-19 cases climbed to up to 150 percent nationwide. The surge mainly came from under vaccinated states such as Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. 

Hospitalizations have again increased and fatalities have surged again, though not as high as in the past waves. Widespread infections have never been anticipated this much, which forced federal and local officials to bring the mask mandate back.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the nation recorded 468,000 administered vaccine doses on Monday.

Over the last month, the US vaccination rate has steadily increased from around 430,000 doses to 550,000 daily doses. In the same period, first dose vaccinations have increased by 75 percent. In the past two weeks, over five million Americans have taken the shots.

The delta variant is ravaging those undervaccinated states which have already engaged in daily mass vaccinations over the recent weeks.

In Louisiana, new COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations soared up to three times in the past weeks; in the same period, the state recorded over 11,000 daily vaccinations, from a previous average of 2,600 per day last month. Arkansas also reported a similar situation while in other states like Missouri, Florida and Texas, vaccination rates have been increasing since mid-May. 

“We’ve seen our daily new administrations double, and this week they’re on pace to triple or quadruple,” Louisiana State Health Officer Joseph Kanter told Bloomberg recently. “Everybody knows someone who is sick right now. Those people who are not real anti-vaxxers but were just not real confident are saying, ‘I’m not waiting a day longer.’”

The White House announced Friday that last week, the country recorded the highest virus cases across Missouri, Florida and Texas, which also recently registered the highest vaccinations.

In an analysis by Bloomberg, it found that 20 percent of counties that were “vaccinating the most slowly six weeks ago are now leading the country in the number of people starting vaccination each day, helping drive a national trend of more vaccinations.”

States with low vaccination rates include Alabama (34 percent), Arkansas (36 percent), Louisiana (37 percent), Missouri (41 percent), and Texas (44 percent). Florida, which has 49 percent of fully-vaccinated residents, is also combating its highest surge of COVID-19 cases.

Source: AOL.com