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The U.S. is making good progress on new President Joe Biden’s goal of reaching 100 million CoV vaccinations in his first 100 days in office. An average of 1.5 million people have been vaccinated daily over the past seven days, Biden’s CoV coordinator Jeff Zients said yesterday.
According to the latest figures from the CDC, about 32.9 million Americans have received at least one dose of vaccine so far – and 9.8 million have already received both necessary doses. The 100 million goal had been criticized in part as not ambitious enough at the start of Biden’s tenure. But the White House stressed that it was only a minimum mark. The U.S. has a population of nearly 330 million.
13 million people vaccinated in the UK
Meanwhile, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that more than 13 million people had already received an initial vaccination against the coronavirus. The government is thus on track to reach its self-imposed target of 15 million first vaccinations by the middle of the month. About 520,000 Britons have already received a second shot.
The number of new infections recorded recently was just over 13,000 per day. At the same time, more than 1,000 additional deaths were recorded. Both ratios are clearly declining. The 7-day incidence – the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a week – is now around 190 nationwide. The government’s chief medical advisor, Patrick Vallance, expressed satisfaction. He added that this is also of utmost importance in the fight against ever new mutations.
Next variant causes concern
Just yesterday, Public Health England classified a variation of the particularly infectious variant B.1.1.7 discovered in Bristol as a “Variant of Concern”. It also carries characteristics of variant B.1.351, first detected in South Africa, which is associated with a reduced immune response in cured and vaccinated people.
It is a common mutation, Vallance said. Therefore, he said, he is not surprised. It is now a bit more likely that the Bristol variant causes an altered immune response, he said. But whether and how exactly that is the case remains to be determined, he said. “We need to be on the lookout for that, capture it, keep it under control, and test the efficacy of the vaccines in that situation.”
source: orf.at/picture: piyabay.com
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