American coronavirus: About 1 in 10 Americans have received at least their first vaccine against Covid-19. But supply challenges remain

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“We are in a situation, and we will be for a little while, of under-supply,” said Andy Slavitt, White House senior adviser on the response to Covid-19.

Meanwhile, a Gallup poll released on Wednesday found 71% of Americans are ready to be vaccinated against Covid-19, up from 65% at the end of December and the highest number on record since July.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the state would receive more doses from the federal government and added, “It’s not enough, but it’s great.”

“I wish we had 200,000 doses a week right now. We could allocate them all,” Beshear said.

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But there is good news: The Biden administration said on Tuesday it was increasing the weekly supply of vaccines for states, tribes and territories to 11 million doses, and that it was continuing to work with manufacturers. to increase the supply.

More and more executives say they are working on disparities in who gets vaccinated. Next week, the administration will begin sending part of the supply directly to community health centers to reach underserved areas, White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said.

Zients spoke at a virtual press conference with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday to announce the opening of two mass vaccination centers in Queens and Brooklyn. The White House team “is moving fast to get more vaccinators on the ground” and is working with New York State to identify other locations.

“We meet communities where they are in places they know and trust,” Zients said. “We look forward to continuing to leverage these partnerships with states and communities to scale innovative models that meet the needs of the communities we serve.

In Texas, three major new community vaccination centers will open in Dallas, Arlington and Houston, Zients said.

And Arizona is receiving a third state-sponsored vaccination site to serve 6,000 people per day, Governor Doug Ducey said Wednesday.

“The demand for vaccine doses is high and the Arizonans have made it clear that they want it. We are working hard to get more doses from the federal government and we are partnering with private and public organizations to release the vaccine and protect them. Arizonans, ”Ducey said. .

Walmart among stores that will carry vaccines

Several thousand retail pharmacies will also begin administering vaccines as part of a federal program, with Walmart, CVS and Walgreens indicating that vaccinations will begin Friday at participating stores.
Biden administration announces direct vaccine shipments to pharmacies

More than 1,000 Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies in 22 states will begin administering the vaccine under the federal retail pharmacy program, according to Walmart. It is not known how many doses will be available.

The company said on Tuesday it had worked with the CDC to identify pharmacy locations based on factors such as population density and infection rates, and had also looked at locations in medically underserved areas.

Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies already vaccinate in 11 states with state allowances, according to the company’s press release.

The Biden administration announced last week that the federal government would begin shipping coronavirus vaccines directly to retail pharmacies starting Thursday, with a total of 1 million doses going to about 6,500 stores before expanding.

CVS and Walgreens said they would receive approximately 420,000 doses out of the 1 million available doses.

82% of unvaccinated educators, according to a survey

Amid nationwide conversations about the steps needed to reopen safe schools, the nation’s largest teachers’ union released a survey showing that around 82% of educators it represents have yet to receive a vaccine.

Covid-19 vaccines must be sent directly to community health centers to target 'hard-to-reach populations'
The survey, conducted by the National Association of Education, found that “the number of educators returning to work in physical buildings far exceeds the number of educators vaccinated.”
Teachers protested and expressed concerns about returning to class after losing colleagues to the virus. But, according to a CNN analysis, teachers are currently not a priority for immunization in 24 states.

After polling more than 3,300 of its members, the association found that about 70% of them said they would feel more secure about resuming learning in person if they were. vaccinated. Around 64% said they currently work in school buildings all or part of the time.

Perception of Covid-19 risk is lowest in months

Wednesday’s Gallup poll showed Republicans and Democrats were ready to be vaccinated – 51% and 91% respectively.

Don't be arrogant with these Covid-19 numbers

Among those who were reluctant, 25% expressed concern that the vaccines were rushed; 22% want to see if they are safe for others; 16% do not trust vaccines in general; and 9% want to see their effectiveness. The poll also found that two-thirds of Americans were not happy with how the vaccination effort was going.

And the United States is not out of the woods yet. According to Johns Hopkins University on Wednesday, the country has recorded more than 27.2 million cases, far more than any other country, and more than 469,000 deaths.

The variants complicate the outlook and worry experts.

CDC data updated Tuesday shows that more than 940 cases of Covid-19 variants first spotted in the UK, South Africa and Brazil have been reported in the US – most being the variant highly contagious known as B.1.1.7, originally detected in the UK.

CDC: double masking can block 92% of infectious particles

This number is quite worrying. But the CDC says it probably doesn’t represent the total number of variant cases, just those found by testing samples positive for Covid-19.

Americans’ perception of risk is the lowest in months, according to a new Axios-Ipsos poll. About 66% of those surveyed said they believe there is a moderate or high risk of returning to pre-pandemic life. The last time that number was so low was in October.

In fact, now that variants are circulating, even everyday activities like grocery shopping could be more dangerous, Wen had previously warned. And the variants could explain why vaccines are becoming an annual necessity.
On Wednesday, the CDC said double masking can significantly improve protection. Researchers found that layering a fabric mask over a medical procedure mask, such as a disposable blue surgical mask, can prevent 92.5% of potentially infectious particles from escaping by creating a tighter fit and by eliminating leaks.

CNN’s Samira Said, Deidre McPhillips, Naomi Thomas, Meridith Edwards, Jen Christensen, John Bonifield, Rebekah Riess and Jacqueline Howard contributed to this report.

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