United States Progressing With Immunization To …

From Washington, DC. The United States already vaccines at an average rate of three million doses per day. Until now, one in five people already have the full program and at least a third of the population has already received a dose. The number of coronavirus deaths continues to decline, according to figures reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but the number of cases continues to climb. In the past two weeks, there was 13 percent more than in the previous fortnight. Now, Joe Biden’s government is wondering if it should make any changes in the approach to the vaccination campaign.

When taking office, Biden promised 100 million doses administered in 100 days. He exceeded the target well before the end of this period and decided to double it: it will be, he said, 200 million before May 1. The pace of the US campaign is now one of the best in the world and is fourth, behind Israel, United Kingdom and Chile.

On April 19, the president also assured, all adults will be eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine. The federal government is the first to win what it sees as a principle of success. “This is only possible because of our comprehensive response and the aggressive steps we have taken to get more supplies, more people to be vaccinated and more places Americans can get vaccinated,” the White House. But in Biden’s direction, they know they still can’t claim victory.

Nevertheless, cases continue to grow in the United States. There are already more than 31 million, as monitored by the newspaper The New York Times. One of the increases that particularly worries the government is that of the state of Michigan, in the north of the country. The, the number of cases has increased by 74% in the last 14 days compared to the previous two weeks. There are over 7,000 cases daily in this state alone. The causes of this increase vary from the effects of “spring break”, spring school vacations, to infections caused at social gatherings.

Governor of Michigan, Democrat Gretchen whitmer, refuses to close the state, while the other districts of the United States are already planning to reopen for the boreal summer. He did so last year and didn’t just meet resistance from the opposition Republican Party. There was also a six-man plan to kidnap her; They were discovered by the FBI and are facing trial today.

Michigan is now betting on the vaccine and has demanded that the White House send it more doses. In the United States, it is the federal government that centralizes the actions of the campaign and allocates an amount of doses to the states according to the adult population they have, among other things. PTo avoid supply bottlenecks, Biden’s management resorted to the Defense Production Act upon taking office. But now the initiative has not only collided with the lack of dosage, but with the proper administration on the part of the states, which in several cases are behind in their demands.

According to The Washington Post, 13 states were assigned more than 100,000 doses last week and have not requested them from the government. The U.S. capital newspaper also reported that administration officials are questioning whether there is a need to change the focus of the vaccination campaign, especially in cases where popular demand is lower than expected. But the White House isn’t convinced Michigan is now the one with the outbreak, but it’s impossible to predict where the next one will happen.

The vaccination campaign also faces another hurdle in keeping up with Biden’s goal. Currently, the United States distributes three vaccines. Most of those already provided correspond to those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, both with a two-dose regimen. The campaign includes the one-shot Johnson & Johnson campaign. But the production of this third vaccine still does not reach that of the other two.

Much of Johnson & Johnson’s production relies on a factory located in Baltimore City. Last month ago a batch of 15 million doses has been contaminated. This has delayed initiating deliveries and manufacturing of new doses, which can only be distributed after approval by the Food and Drug Administration. There are over 62 million doses that cannot yet be dispensed.

The vaccination campaign is the foundation of Biden’s strategy to end the pandemic and enter the recovery phase, but it may not be enough. The CDC pays special attention to the dissemination of the new variants in the country. The one identified in the UK, known as B.1.1.7, is already the dominant case among new cases. The variants identified in South Africa and Brazil are also circulating in several states.

So far, studies show that the vaccines work against the British variant. The efficiency drops a little in the other two cases, especially in the South African variant, but this is not worrying.

The CDC is also investigating cases of people infected with the virus despite having been vaccinated. They are few in number, just a fraction of the 66 million who have already received the full program. “There is nothing that constitutes a red flag. Obviously we are watching this very, very carefully, but I don’t see anything that changes our idea of ​​the vaccine and its effectiveness, ”he said. Anthony Fauci, the expert who leads the White House’s actions against the coronavirus.

For the specialist, these cases are rather related to the capacity of each immune system to generate an individual response. This, he said, “is not at all incompatible with 90% efficiency.” The White House insists that the most important thing is to reduce cases, which can only be achieved with vaccines.

Until a critical mass of people vaccinated is generated, they stressed of the team managing the official pandemic response, the general indications will not change: wear masks, keep your distance, wash your hands and avoid close gatherings.