White House states see rising interest in COVID-19 shots after mandates dreadful hospital scenes

Federal and state officials say they’re seeing renewed interest in the COVID-19 shots as the delta variant fills hospitals along the Gulf Coast, and the public and private sectors condition employment on getting vaccinated.

The White House late Thursday said the U.S. administered just over 1 million doses, including 562,000 getting their initial shots, in the most recent day of reporting.

“First 1M day reported in nearly seven weeks! 31% week-over week increase in the daily average of people completing their vaccine series, maximizing their protection against Delta,” tweeted Cyrus Shahpar, the White House COVID-19 data director.

The U.S. has been averaging around 675,000 doses per day in mid-August, up from around 435,000 in mid-July, though far below the 3.4 million peak in April when the general population became eligible and demand was highest.

The spike comes as the airwaves are filled with reports of overflowing hospitals in some places and patients who express regret about refusing the vaccines.

“We continue to see highest upticks in states with highest case rates,” White House assistant press secretary Kevin Munoz said.  

There have been many reports of “breakthrough infections” among the fully vaccinated but the shots appear to be doing their job in keeping most people out of the hospital, leading officials to dub the situation as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” and warn that children under age 12 and others who are ineligible for the shots are being placed in harm’s way.

Some people don’t have much of a choice whether to get vaccinated or not. A flood of states, cities, universities and private employers are telling their workers to get vaccinated or look for another job, a trend that will likely accelerate once the Food and Drug Administration fully approves the vaccines.

Roughly 51% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against the COVID-19, though uptake varies widely from state to state, from percentages in the mid-30s in Alabama and Mississippi to 65% or higher in some New England states.

Louisiana earlier this month saw an increase in uptake as hospitals filled up and Alabama, which recently ran out of intensive care unit beds, is administering 10,000-20,000 doses per day compared to daily administration in the single-digit thousands last month.

Northeast states, fearful the delta variant will overwhelm their efforts this fall and winter, are pushing for higher rates.

New York Lt. Gov Kathy Hochul, who will soon replace Gov. Andrew Cuomo, congratulated Nassau County Executive Laura Curran for getting at least 85% of adults to receive at least one dose.

“Highest in NY, 3rd highest in the U.S.,” Ms. Hochul tweeted. “Let’s go NY â€" Who’s ready to break that record??!”

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