WASHINGTON (AP) – Half of all adults in the United States have received at least one shot of COVID-19, the government announced Sunday, marking another milestone in the country’s largest vaccination campaign, but leaving more work to convince skeptical Americans up their sleeves.
Nearly 130 million people over the age of 18 have received at least one dose of vaccine, or 50.4% of the total adult population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 84 million adults, or about 32.5% of the population, have been completely vaccinated.
The United States eliminated 50% just one day after the global death toll reported by the coronavirus exceeded an impressive 3 million, according to totals compiled by Johns Hopkins University, although the actual number is believed to be significantly higher.
The country’s vaccination rate, with 61.6 doses administered per 100 people, is currently behind Israel, which leads among countries with at least 5 million people with a rate of 119.2. The United States is also tracking the United Arab Emirates, Chile and the United Kingdom, which vaccinates at a rate of 62 doses per 100 people, according to Our World in Data, an online research site.
The vaccine campaign offered hope in places like Nashville, Tennessee, where the Music City Center boiled Sunday with people looking for vaccine. The high demand for appointment-only shots at the convention center has dropped enough so tickets will be welcome starting this week.
Amanda Grimsley, who received her second shot, said she is ready to see her 96-year-old grandmother, who lives in Alabama and has been nervous about receiving the vaccine after having a bad reaction to a vaccine against it. the flu.
“It simply came to our notice then. It’s been almost a year and a half since I’ve been able to see my grandmother, “said Grimsley, 35.” And it’s the longest my whole family has gone without seeing her. And we’ll see her in mid-May. “
The states with the highest vaccination rates have a record of Democratic voting and support for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election: New Hampshire leading the way, with 71.1%, followed by New Mexico, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine , according to CDC data.
Demand has not been the same in many areas of Tennessee, especially in rural areas.
Tennessee is in the top four states in terms of rates of adults receiving at least one shot, at 40.8%. It is followed only by Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, three other southern states that bowed out Republicans and voted Donald Trump last fall.
Vaccination rates do not always adjust to how states vote. But surveys by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research have shown trends that link political trends and attitudes about vaccines and other issues related to the pandemic, which has killed more than 566,000 people in the United States. .
A poll conducted in late March found that 36% of Republicans said they would probably or definitely not get vaccinated, compared to 12% of Democrats. Similarly, a third of rural Americans said they supported the shootings, while less than a quarter of people living in cities and suburbs shared that hesitation.
Overall, the willingness to get vaccinated has increased, according to surveys.
In January, 67% of American adults were willing to get vaccinated or had already received at least one shot. The figure has risen to 75%, according to the latest AP-NORC survey.
Across the country, 24% of black Americans and 22% of Hispanic Americans say they will probably or definitely not get vaccinated, below 41% and 34% in January, respectively. Among white Americans, 26% now say they will not be vaccinated. In January, that figure was 31%.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said the goal is to get community figures, from athletes to the clergy, to encourage vaccination, especially because the national average of cases of seven days remains more than 60,000 new infections a day.
“What we’re doing is trying to get, through a community core, messages of confidence that everyone will feel comfortable listening to, whether Republican, Democrat, independent or whoever, that is comfortable,” Fauci said Sunday in “This Week.” and ABC.
Fauci also said Sunday that the government will likely decide to resume use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine. this week, possibly with broader restrictions or warnings following reports of some very rare blood clots.
In a series of news interviews, Fauci said he expects a decision when advisers at the CDC meet Friday to discuss the pause in the J&J single-dose vaccine.
“I would be very surprised if we don’t resume some form before Friday,” he said. “I don’t really expect them to want me to stretch it any more.”
Fauci, who is President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said he believed federal regulators could recover the shots with age or gender-based limits, or with a general warning, so the vaccine is administered. in a way “a little different from what we were before the break.”
The J&J vaccine was released into limbo after the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration said last week that they needed more testing to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were related to the shot, and if so, the risk is great.
Reports are rare: six cases of more than 7 million U.S. inoculations with the J&J vaccine. Clots were found in women between the ages of 18 and 48. One person died.
Authorities stressed that they have found no signs of clot problems with the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, from Moderna and Pfizer.
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Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee.