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Even though the White House has highlighted what it sees as alarmism in reports of the increase in cases of the Delta coronavirus variant in the United States, reports in the same national media suggest that vaccinations are increasing in the United States. sensitive areas.
An anonymous senior official in the Biden administration told CNN on Friday that the press was misleading federal data indicating that the Delta variant was spreading among vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
The official said the focus on “revolutionary infections” may make people more reluctant to get vaccinated, and said the White House had asked news agencies to moderate coverage.
“The media coverage does not match the moment,” the official said. “It has been hyperbolic and downright irresponsible in a way that hardens the reluctance towards the vaccine. The biggest problem we have is that unvaccinated people get and spread the virus. “
An NBC News article on new data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was first titled “Revolutionary cases of Covid: At least 125,000 fully vaccinated Americans have tested positive.”
That figure, however, represents a fraction of a percentage point of vaccinations in the United States this year. NBC changed the title to ‘Groundbreaking Covid Cases: Data Shows How Many Americans Vaccinated Test Positive’.
Separately, reports have indicated that concern over the Delta variant, which the CDC says appears to cause more severe disease than previous variants and spread as easily as chickenpox, helps overcome reluctance to take the vaccine. .
More than 4.7 million people have been vaccinated in the United States in the past two weeks and more than 856,000 doses were administered on Friday, the highest daily figure since July 3, according to the Washington Post.
Louisiana, one of the many southern states with low vaccination rates, is said to have seen a 114% increase in injections, Arkansas a 96% increase, Alabama 65% and Missouri 49%. Texas last week reported its highest single-day vaccination rate in a month.
Senior Republicans have started urging residents to accept the vaccines. Writing in the Washington Post this week, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said those “who push fake news and conspiracy theories on this vaccine are reckless and do great damage.” Ivey also invoked a famous fictional Alabamian maxim that life is like a box of chocolates because you never know what you’re going to get.
“It was true in 1994 when Forrest [Gump] said it, and it’s true today, ”she said of Robert Zemeckis’ Oscar-winning film, starring Tom Hanks. “Today we have a weapon to fight Covid-19 that we didn’t have a year ago. It’s up to you to use the good sense God has given you to do what’s best for you and your loved ones.
In Arkansas, Governor Asa Hutchinson reimposed a state of emergency on Thursday and said all pediatric intensive care beds were full. He sought to allay fears that vaccines are a “biological weapon”.
“We had to bring in more vaccines,” Robert Ator, Arkansas vaccination campaign manager, told The Post. “For the first time in two and a half months, we are placing a new large order. People are scared. “
In Kentucky, Senator Mitch McConnell was preparing public service announcements to broadcast on more than 100 radio stations.
“These shots have to get into everyone’s arms as quickly as possible, otherwise we’re going to find ourselves in the fall in a situation we don’t aspire to – which we went through last year,” McConnell said. to reporters this week. “It’s not complicated.”
Figures show that less than half of American adults are fully immunized. Many researchers have said that the goal of collective immunity has become unattainable. But the release this week of a CDC document recommending a reversal of mask guidelines – which on May 13 were no longer needed indoors or outdoors – may have helped highlight the threat. of the Delta variant.
“Given the higher transmissibility and current vaccine coverage, universal masking is essential to reduce transmission of the Delta variant,” the CDC document states.
In an official statement, the CDC recommended that fully vaccinated people now wear a mask “in indoor public places in areas of high or high transmission.”
He added that fully vaccinated people “might choose to wear a mask regardless of the level of transmission, especially if they are immunocompromised or at increased risk of serious Covid-19 disease, or if they have someone in their household who is immunocompromised, at increased risk of serious illness, or not fully immunized.
Not all Republicans are looking to put politics off the vaccine surge and end the resurgent pandemic.
Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, used the CDC’s change in mask guidelines to attack the Biden administration.
“They broke their word,” he said. “They broke their own rules. And now they have broken the trust of the American people.
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