U.S. health authorities on Friday urged vaccination against Covid-19 at a time when the number of new Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths is rising, warning that Covid-19 is “becoming an unvaccinated pandemic.”
“There is a clear message: it is becoming an unvaccinated pandemic,” Rochelle Valenskaya, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters.
The CDC reported more than 33,000 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, an average of 26,306 new cases per day over a seven-day period, up 70% from a week ago.
The average number of Covid-19 patients hospitalized per day over the seven-day period was approximately 2,790, up 36% from a week ago. The average number of new deaths per day over the seven-day period was 211, up 26% from a week ago, although it had fallen for several weeks before.
These increases are concentrated in low-vaccination communities, and “unvaccinated Americans account for virtually all of the latest Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths,” said Jeff Zientes, White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator.
The new Covid-19 wave is being fueled by the delta strain, which now accounts for more than 80% of new infections.
Covid-19 vaccines, including those manufactured by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, are also very effective against the delta variant, but the US vaccination campaign has slowed significantly in recent weeks.
U.S. President Joe Biden had set a goal of having at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine available to 70% of American adults by July 4, compared to only 67.9% of American adults by July 15. If the current pace is maintained, this goal will not be achieved even by the end of the month.
With 80% of people over the age of 65 being fully vaccinated, health officials expect the number of hospitalizations and deaths not to rise as fast as the number of infections.
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