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But it remains to be seen whether the recent surge in demand will significantly increase vaccination rates, which are still below 50 percent in more than a dozen states. The renewed enthusiasm for the shots may wane as quickly as it started, depending on how deep Delta’s fear is and how long the current pushes last. Other factors at play include the growing willingness of employers to issue vaccination warrants and the likelihood that the Food and Drug Administration will issue full approval of at least one shot – that of Pfizer – in the coming weeks.
Karen Landers, an Alabama public health officer, doesn’t think hard-hit states are likely to see a reprieve anytime soon. The vaccine rush will help in the long run, but it can take up to six weeks after the initial hit for people to have full protection, she noted. This means that it will probably be some time before the number of new infections starts to decline, despite the increase in vaccination.
“We are not going to see this decrease in cases that will give people assurance” that the situation is safe, she said.
The number of people seeking Covid-19 vaccines has increased across the country in recent weeks, after stagnating for months despite a concerted effort by the federal government to encourage vaccination. The country administered 864,000 doses on Wednesday – the highest daily total in a month, said Jeff Zients, head of the White House Covid response team.
The factors behind the national trend are varied. Some states, like Minnesota and New Mexico, have accepted President Joe Biden’s suggestion to offer $ 100 to people who get vaccinated. Others, like California, Massachusetts and New York, are requiring some employees to be vaccinated, and some large employers, including Disney, Google, and Tyson Foods, have started requiring vaccines.
But the surge in demand is highest in states with the worst epidemics.
“Clearly, Americans are seeing the impact of being unvaccinated and unprotected,” Zients said.
Missouri was among the first states to feel the effects of the Delta variant. As cases there escalated in late June, hospital leaders in the hardest-hit areas of the state began warning the public that their facilities were at or near full capacity and running out of ventilators. About three weeks after new infections began to rise, the number of vaccinations per day jumped 50 percent.
Delta then moved south to Arkansas. Cases increased and about three weeks later vaccination rates increased by nearly 200%, according to an analysis by POLITICO.
“I think it’s the people who are scared,” said Joseph Kanter, the state health worker in Louisiana, where around 12,000 people receive Covid-19 vaccines every day – up from just 3,000 a day a month ago. “With so many Covids, most people know someone who is sick.
It is the same in Alabama. Landers said three of his own neighbors have died from the virus. “Unfortunately, part of the personal loss was kind of a motivator,” she said. “I’m sorry that is the case. “
More than half of unvaccinated people believe the vaccine poses a greater risk to their health than Covid, according to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Hear local doctors tell stories of dying patients and future widows begging for the injection – only to be told it’s too late – can force many people to recalibrate their analysis.
“It’s seeing local organizations being driven from the hospital to the morgue,” said Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. “You suddenly hear a local doctor on the radio talking about people dying.”
Evidence that people are taking it more seriously can also be found in the growing number of people getting tested, said Jose Romero, Arkansas health secretary, who visited the state with Gov. Asa Hutchinson. to try to persuade people to get vaccinated. Many, he said, did not perceive Covid as a serious risk until hospitalizations and deaths increased.
“People are taking this more to heart now,” he said.
The challenge for state health officials now is to try to keep the demand for vaccines growing.
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