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Amid the increase in Covid-19 cases across the country, the states with the largest increases are also reporting an increase in vaccinations.
“Over the past week, the five states with the highest case rates – Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, and Nevada – had a higher rate of newly vaccinated people compared to the national average,” Jeff Zients, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said Thursday during a White House briefing. “People in these states are feeling the impact of being unvaccinated and are responding with action.”
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According to data from NBC News, the United States has averaged 699 initial doses per 100,000 population over the past seven days. This is against 590 the previous week.
In Louisiana, which has the highest rate of new infections in the country, the current vaccination rate is 964 first doses per 100,000 population, according to an NBC News analysis. In Arkansas, the state with the second highest infection rate, vaccination rates are even higher, at 2,128.
These are states with some of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates. Just over 36 percent of adults in Louisiana, for example, are fully vaccinated.
The current outbreak is due to the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that the variant now accounts for 83% of new cases in the country.
Dr Steppe Mette, executive director of the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Center at Little Rock, said the recent increase can be attributed to more positive messages about vaccination reaching those who need it. ‘to hear.
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“I’m starting to see a different way of presenting the message, including testimonials from ordinary people who have fallen ill and recovered,” he said. “It has a different way of delivering a message than a talker, a public health official like me, or even a news anchor.”
Watching other loved ones fall ill can also be a red flag, said Dr Cameron Wolfe, infectious disease expert and associate professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine.
“I hate that people get sick, wake up and realize that it hasn’t gone away, and that there is an easy tool in front of them that they can use to break this pandemic,” he said. declared. “But at the end of the day, it’s nice to see people making what I think is clearly the right decision.”
As of Friday, more than 162 million people in the United States were fully vaccinated – just over 57% of those eligible for vaccines, ages 12 and older. This leaves 43% still vulnerable to Covid-19.
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