WASHINGTON – Half of all U.S. adults received at least one shot of Covid-19, the government announced Sunday, marking a new milestone in the country’s largest vaccination campaign ever, but still leaving work to persuade skeptical Americans to to roll up sleeves. .
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention received nearly 130 million people aged 18 and older receiving at least one dose of vaccine, or 50.4 percent of the total adult population. Nearly 84 million adults, or about 32.5 percent of the population, are fully vaccinated.
According to the Johns Hopkins University total, the US reached the 50 percentage point just a day after the reported worldwide coronavirus mortality rate, with an incredible 3 million.
The country’s vaccination rate, at 61.6 doses administered per 100 people, is currently less than Israel’s, leading among countries with at least 5 million people at a rate of 119.2. The United States also follows the United Arab Emirates, Chile and the United Kingdom, which vaccinate at doses of 62 doses per 100 people, according to Our World in Data, an online research website.
The vaccination campaign offered hope in places like Nashville, Tennessee, where the Music City Center was teeming with vaccination seekers Sunday. The huge demand for appointments at the conference center only has leveled off enough that the walk-ins will be welcome this week.
Amanda Grimsley, who received her second shot, said she was ready to see her 96-year-old grandmother, who lives in Alabama, and was nervous about getting the vaccine after she had a bad reaction to a flu shot. .
“It’s a little emotional. “I hardly saw my grandmother in a year and a half,” said Grimsley, 35. And it’s the longest my whole family has ever gone without seeing her. And we will see her now in mid-May. ”
The states with the highest vaccination rates voted democratically and supported President Joe Biden in the 2020 election: New Hampshire at the top, with 71.1 percent, followed by New Mexico, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine.
In many areas of Tennessee, demand was not the same – especially in rural areas.
Tennessee sits in the bottom four states for the number of adults getting at least one shot, at 40.8 percent. It is followed only by Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi – three other southern states that leaned Republican and voted for Donald Trump last fall.
Vaccination rates do not always match the way states vote. However, a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Research revealed trends linking political trends and attitudes toward the vaccines and other issues related to pandemics.
In a poll conducted in late March, it was found that 36 percent of Republicans said they were likely or definitely not to be vaccinated, compared to 12 percent of Democrats. Similarly, a third of Americans in rural areas said they tend not to get shot, while less than a quarter of people living in cities and suburbs share the reluctance.
In general, the willingness to be vaccinated appears to have increased.
In January, 67 percent of adult Americans were willing to be vaccinated or had already received at least one shot. According to the latest AP-NORC poll, the figure has climbed to 75 percent.
Nationwide, 24 percent of Black Americans and 22 percent of Hispanics say they are likely or definitely not to be vaccinated, at 41 percent and 34 percent, respectively, in January. Among white Americans, 26 percent now say they will not be vaccinated. In January, it was 31 percent.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading expert on infectious diseases, said the goal is to get community numbers, from athletes to clergy, to encourage vaccinations, especially since the country’s average of seven days more than 60,000 new infections per day stay.
‘What we do is try to get trusted messages through a community core that someone will feel comfortable listening to, whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent or whoever you are, who you’re comfortable, ”Fauci said on ABC’s” This Week “on Sunday.
Fauci also indicated Sunday that the government is likely to continue this week to resume the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, possibly with restrictions or broader warnings following reports of very rare cases of blood clots.
In a series of interviews with news programs, Fauci said he expects a decision when CDC advisers meet on Friday to discuss the discontinuation of J & J’s single-dose vaccine.
“I would be very surprised if we did not resume in shape by Friday,” he said. “I don’t really expect them to stretch it any longer.”
Fauci, who is President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said he believes federal regulators can return the shots with age or gender limits or with a warning so that they are administered in a way that’s a little different. we were before the break. ”
The J&J vaccine was thrown into the air after the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration said last week that they needed more evidence to decide whether a handful of unusual blood clots were attached to the lap – and if so, how great the risk is.
The reports are rare – six cases out of more than 7 million US vaccines with J&J vaccine. The blood clots were found in women between 18 and 48 years of age. One person is dead.
Authorities said they had found no evidence of clotting problems with the most widely used Covid-19 vaccines in the US – from Moderna and Pfizer.
Mattise reports from Nashville, Tennessee.