People wait in line to receive a coronavirus vaccine (COVID-19) at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on the west side of midtown Manhattan, which has become a mass vaccination site in the city of New York, New York, March 2, 2021.
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WASHINGTON – The United States administered a record number of Covid-19 vaccines over the weekend as public health officials urged state leaders to maintain social distancing measures to prevent a further rise that could undermine progress in the Covid-19. fight against the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention administered 2.9 million vaccines on Saturday, a record 2.4 million on Sunday, according to the agency’s latest bill. The figures are subject to revisions as more data becomes available for public health officials.
More than one in five adults has now received at least one dose of vaccine, while just over one in ten has received two doses, according to the CDC. The Modern and Pfizer vaccines require two injections, while the recently approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires one.
Jeff Zients, White House coronavirus response coordinator, told NBC Sunday on “Meet The Press” that the nation administers more than 2 million shots a day on average, compared to the average 900,000 daily injections during the first days of the vaccination campaign. .
President Joe Biden said last week that the United States would have enough doses of vaccine for each adult in late May, two months ahead of schedule. However, Zients warned that while progress has been made in increasing vaccinations, the nation needs to double mitigation measures for now.
“We’re on a path, we have to make sure we don’t lower our guard,” Zients said. “People have to meet the president’s challenge of disguising themselves. People have to get the vaccine when it’s their turn. We have to go that route and beat that pandemic.”
Zients joins a chorus of public health officials warning the nation to remain on guard as several states drop mask warrants and loosen other coronavirus restrictions as cases dwindle and vaccinations increase.
Last week, Arizona, Texas, Alabama, South Carolina, California and Mississippi relaxed restrictions to varying degrees.
The Arizona governor ended capacity limits for businesses, but said they still needed masks. Texas also announced a return to full-capacity companies, but dropped its mask mandate. The Alabama governor said the state would lift its mask mandate after April 9th. South Carolina lifted the state’s mandate of masks on government buildings, but recommended that restaurants continue to require facial coverage.
California will allow theme parks, outdoor sports and live stadium events to restart April 1 with reduced capacity and mandatory masks. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday that the state would allow restaurants outside of New York to return to 75% of their capacity.
Mississippi also announced last week that companies could operate at full capacity and withdrew the mask state mandate.
On Sunday, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves responded to criticism from public health officials that his decision to ease Covid restrictions was premature.
“Our focus has been not only to protect lives, but also to protect livelihoods. We need to roll out our economy so that individuals can get back to work,” Reeves said in an interview with “State of the Union” CNN.
The White House Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned Americans to be alert and follow public health measures while the administration works to vaccinate the nation.
“We want to come back carefully and slowly,” Fauci told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “But don’t turn the switch on and off because it would really be risky to have another rise again,” Fauci said of the states that alter mitigation methods.
Similarly, Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program that the U.S. could see an increase in cases due to the new variants.
Osterholm explained Sunday that the United States is “in the eye of the hurricane right now.”
Osterholm said the prevalence of B.1.1.7 more infectious. variant, which was first identified in the UK, will continue to grow. He added that about 40% of cases across the country are related to the variant.
While new Covid infections continue to decline since the catastrophic winter peak, they remain stubbornly high at more than 60,000 new cases a day on average, according to a CNBC data analysis from Johns Hopkins University. This is comparable to the rise the United States experienced last summer.
Deaths have also declined due to the devastating winter peak, but remain tragically high. According to Johns Hopkins, more than 1,700 people die a day from the virus on average.