[ad_1]
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Carl O’Donnell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is working to give additional booster shots of COVID-19 to Americans with compromised immune systems as quickly as possible, as cases of the new coronavirus continue to rise, said Thursday the leading American expert in infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
United States joins Germany, France and Israel in giving booster shots, ignoring World Health Organization call to wait until more people around the world can receive their first injection.
U.S. regulators must fully authorize COVID-19 vaccines or change their emergency use permissions before authorities can recommend additional injections, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to make thirds doses available earlier under certain circumstances, officials said at a July conference. Encounter.
“It is extremely important for us to take action to ensure that these people receive their reminders and we are working on it now,” Fauci said during a press call, adding that people with compromised immunity may not be adequately protected by their vaccinations. Existing COVID-19.
Fauci said the increase in cases resulting from the spread of the contagious Delta variant in the United States can be reversed with additional vaccinations. (Graph on the epidemic in the United States) https://tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR
The Biden administration was quick to thaw the opposition of some Americans, including those who distrust the government, to taking the vaccine as the highly infectious Delta variant sweeps the country.
Seven U.S. states with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates account for half of the nation’s new cases and hospitalizations over the past week, the White House said Thursday.
The states are Florida, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, according to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients, who spoke at the conference. hurry
Of these, Florida and Texas account for about a third of new coronavirus cases and an even higher share of hospitalizations nationwide.
COVID cases have increased by about 43% from the previous week and daily deaths have increased by more than 39%, according to the director of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who also spoke during the call.
The United States hit a six-month high for new COVID cases with more than 100,000 infections reported by https://reut.rs/3lA9CmE on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally.
Some 864,000 vaccines have been administered in the past 24 hours, the highest since early July, the White House said.
Zients said the Biden administration supports U.S. companies and other institutions demanding their employees get vaccinated.
He added that the White House was considering requiring that foreign visitors be vaccinated because it planned to possibly reopen international travel, but said it had not made any final decisions.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Susan Heavey, Carl O’Donnell and Trevor Hunnicutt; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Lisa Shumaker)
[ad_2]
Source link