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CNN – People not vaccinated against Covid-19 were 11 times more likely to die from the disease and 10 times more likely to be hospitalized for the disease, according to a study released Friday by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
The study looked at 600,000 cases of Covid-19 in 13 states from April to mid-July.
“The bottom line is this: we have the scientific tools we need to overcome this pandemic. Vaccination works and will protect us from serious complications from Covid-19, ”CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Friday.
Citing the study, Walensky said those who were not vaccinated were about four and a half times more likely to contract Covid-19.
With more than 75 million eligible Americans still unvaccinated, hospitals in many states overwhelmed and fearing more cases in the fall, experts and officials are scrambling to slow the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The only thing we know for sure … 160,000 cases a day are not where we want to be,” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease director Dr Anthony Fauci told Anderson Cooper on Thursday. from CNN. “Unfortunately, that’s where we are at the moment.”
Speaking to Axios, Fauci said removal of the virus is the “final” to the pandemic. Ideally, the United States would get as few cases as possible, but a reasonable goal would be to go below 10,000 a day, he said.
In mid-June, before the spike in cases caused by the more transmissible Delta variant, the United States reached a seven-day average of about 11,000 new cases per day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. .
President Joe Biden on Thursday introduced a plan that places tough new vaccine rules on federal workers, large employers and healthcare workers – requirements that could apply to up to 100 million Americans.
Coronavirus Vaccinations in North Carolina
“We have been patient, but our patience is running out, and your refusal has cost us all,” Biden said, his tone hardening towards Americans who still refuse to receive a vaccine despite ample evidence of their safety and health. full approval. – the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine – from the United States Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Todd Rice of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville called the move necessary. He said staff at his hospital had been pushed to the brink and worried about the increase in cases during the colder months, which typically see higher rates of respiratory problems.
“The key to getting out of this is getting people vaccinated,” Rice told CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Friday morning. “We need to do something to try and increase our vaccination numbers.”
Dr Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said Biden’s announcement was a milestone and that he “pinpointed the current problem in this country.”
And some experts insisted on more.
“I loved the speech; I wish it had gone further. I wanted the president to limit travel this holiday season to people who have been vaccinated,” CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said.
However, many Republican governors – some in states with high hospitalizations and low vaccination rates – have condemned the strategy. Some even said they would challenge the action in court.
“To be clear: the vaccine is the best tool we have to fight the pandemic, but tough mandates are the wrong approach,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in a tweet Thursday.
But even with vaccination and mitigation measures in place, the end of the game might not be a complete eradication, said Dr Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
“Basically, that will end the day when we achieve a sufficient level of population immunity, that the virus will essentially become a nuisance and no longer a threat,” Jha said Thursday.
Vaccines still effective against Delta variant, CDC says
Since Delta is the dominant coronavirus strain, overall estimates of the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccine are “similar to the months before Delta became predominant,” according to another CDC study released on Friday.
The CDC analyzed thousands of hospitalizations of Covid-19 among adults in nine states between June and August, as of when the Delta variant accounted for more than half of sequenced cases in the state.
The Moderna vaccine was the most effective at reducing hospitalizations, according to the study. Among all ages, the Moderna vaccine had 95% effectiveness, while the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine had 80% effectiveness and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had 60% effectiveness.
Overall, vaccine efficacy was lower in people 75 years of age and older, “not seen before” in this network sample. The study found that the vaccine’s overall efficacy was 89% in adults under 75, but 76% in those 75 and older.
West Virginia is facing a pandemic peak with 252 patients currently in intensive care and 141 patients on ventilators, Governor Jim Justice announced at a press conference on Friday.
“We have lost 38 other people since Wednesday. We will continue to lose people in this wave without any questions,” said the governor. “A high percentage of people in hospitals are not vaccinated.”
How the United States is fighting the virus
Changes to the Covid-19 response begin Friday, when the maximum fine for violating the federal requirement to wear a face mask while traveling will double to a range of $ 500 to $ 3,000, from 250 $ to $ 1,500.
And to help Covid-19 patients who are affected by the wave of Delta variants, the United States will increase the availability of new treatments, including monoclonal antibodies, Biden said.
He said the treatments “have been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization by up to 70% for unvaccinated people.”
Also on Thursday, the New York Police Department confirmed on Thursday that any employee who does not get the vaccine or provide proof of a recent negative Covid test will not be allowed to work and will not be paid.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also previously announced that any new hires for New York City agencies will need to be fully immunized.
Having workers choose between vaccination or weekly testing will likely increase vaccination, White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said on Thursday. “It’s impractical for most to get tested once a week,” he added.
Data expected on children’s vaccines in the fall
Much of the vaccination effort is targeting American adults, but with school going back to school across the country, many experts and parents are concerned about how children will be protected from the virus.
Children have a lower risk of severe symptoms from Covid-19 but are no less likely than adults to be infected in the first place, Fauci said in an interview with the New York Times published Thursday.
“So we are seeing more children in the hospital now because the Delta variant is more easily transmitted between everyone – adults and children,” Fauci said.
In Florida’s 15 largest school districts, at least 34,085 students and 6,347 employees tested positive for Covid-19 during the 2021-2022 school year, according to a CNN analysis.
In Kentucky, 39 of the state’s 171 public school districts have had to close at some point during the 2021-22 school year due to increased cases, quarantines and / or staff shortages, a said Joshua Shoutla, spokesperson for the Kentucky School Boards Association. CNN in a statement Thursday morning.
The Los Angeles Unified School District hopes to curb the spread among students by requiring that all eligible children be immunized by the end of the calendar year, the school board of education unanimously ruled.
Children under 12 cannot currently be vaccinated.
But those 12 and older can get Pfizer’s vaccines under emergency use authorization. According to a CNN analysis of the latest CDC data, about 43% of all 12 to 17 year olds in the United States are fully vaccinated.
Moderna’s vaccine data for younger age groups will likely be ready in late October or early November, following Pfizer data which is expected by the end of September, Fauci told The New York Times.
After the data was presented, Fauci said it is “very likely” that companies will apply for emergency use authorization.
The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
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