Alabama is now 4th in the country for new cases of COVID

Alabama now ranks fourth in the country for the most new COVID-19 cases per capita, as medical officials hoped full federal approval of the Pfizer vaccine will persuade people to get the vaccine.

According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University, Alabama ranks behind Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, for the most new cases per capita in the past 14 days.

“The Gulf states pretty much continue to be on fire,” said Dr Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The FDA gave full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, potentially boosting public confidence in the injections. Alabama has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, ranking slightly below Mississippi for the percentage of people fully vaccinated.

Dr Paul Goepfert, director of the Alabama Vaccine Research Clinic, said it would be difficult to predict the impact of approval, but added it could improve vaccination rates by a few points percentage.

“People can no longer say with a straight face that they won’t take it due to the lack of FDA approval,” Goepfert said.

State health officials urged people to get vaccinated on Monday.

“We have high levels of disease transmission in all counties in the state. Vaccination against COVID-19 will help keep our communities and our children safe in school, ”state health official Scott Harris said in a statement on Monday.

The seven-day moving average of daily new cases in Alabama has increased over the past two weeks, from 2,829.14 new cases per day on August 7 to 4,024.00 new cases per day on August 21.

The Alabama Hospital Association said Monday that 84% of adults hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state are not vaccinated.

Intensive care units, especially in parts of the state, are stressed by the wave of mostly unvaccinated patients. Just over half of all beds in the state’s intensive care units are occupied by someone with COVID-19.

Officials at Springhill Medical Center hospital in Mobile told WKRG last week that of 102 hospital patients, seven had been vaccinated.

“Between two breaths, they beg me for the vaccine. They are begging me to save them. I just have to look at them and say, ‘It’s too late now. We can’t at the moment, but you keep fighting, ”nurse manager Abby Wilson told the station.