Major concerns about delta variant in US, more people get vaccine | Abroad

The newspaper makes a connection with the concerns about the rapid spread of the delta variant. Arkansas saw the number of vaccinations rise from an average of 27,000 per week to 70,000 per week. “We had to arrange more vaccines. For the first time in 2.5 months, we are placing another large order,” the head of the state’s vaccination campaign told the newspaper. “People are afraid.”

In the US, about 67 percent of people aged 12 years or older have had at least one shot. 57.7 percent are considered fully vaccinated. There are, however, large regional differences. In some parts of the country, only 20 to 30 percent of people have been vaccinated.

Americans queuing up to get vaccinated this week had a variety of reasons. Some people said they are reassured enough now that millions of compatriots have been vaccinated. Others said they are afraid of infecting parents or grandparents or fear for their jobs if they don’t get vaccinated.

Politically sensitive

The fact that the vaccination campaign is not going smoothly in some places is also a politically sensitive issue. California Governor Gavin Newsom, himself a Democrat, recently lashed out at prominent conservatives who he believes are spreading misleading information about vaccines and thereby sowing doubt. He mentioned presenter Tucker Carlson and Republican MP Marjorie Taylor Greene, among others.

Greene hit back on Twitter, saying California residents are tired of living in Newson’s “communist dictatorship.” She also lashed out at the Democrat’s corona policy.

Other prominent Republicans do encourage people to get vaccinated. The authoritative Senator Mitch McConnell said that people should get themselves vaccinated as soon as possible and is also campaigning for it on the radio. He has spots broadcast by radio stations in his home state of Kentucky.

Wrong information

In Arkansas, Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson set out to debunk misinformation. He told CNN that at local gatherings, citizens have described the vaccines as “biological weapons” and are talking about “brainwashing.” Hutchinson said such statements are “obviously wrong.”

Still, some Republican voters are reluctant. An 18-year-old boy who eventually got vaccinated told The Washington Post that he then assured friends on Facebook that he was still a Republican. The teen feared he would be mistaken for a “crazy Democrat,” but said he was ultimately more afraid of “being on a ventilator and dying.”

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