As the United States continues to increase the pace of its vaccination campaign, now averaging more than 3 million vaccines a day, those in the most vulnerable age group are leading the way. About 75% of Americans 65 and older have received at least one injection, according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than half are fully vaccinated.
In a call to reporters on Monday, CDC director Rochelle Walensky said emergency room visits and hospitalizations associated with this 65-year-old and older demographic are declining.
These trends are “good news when it comes to the power of vaccination,” said Walensky.
Covid US Cabinets
After a drop in the number of daily cases due to Easter Sunday, when many states did not report coronavirus data, a Johns Hopkins University tracker shows that the U.S. reported about 79,000 new Covid-19 cases on Monday. The seven-day average of new daily cases is currently at 64,600, above the country’s lowest point of about 53,000 cases per day at the end of March, but showing some signs of stagnation.
The demographics of those who are becoming infected with the virus are changing, CDC director Rochelle Walensky told media members on Monday at a press conference at the White House.
“As trends in the data have indicated, cases are increasing nationally and we are seeing this occurring predominantly in young adults,” said Walensky.
She added that many of the outbreaks in young people are related to youth sports and extracurricular activities. The risks of outbreak groups can be avoided with cadenced test strategies, said Walensky.
The demographic shift is a sign that vaccinations are having an impact, according to Walensky, who cited a decline in emergency department visits and hospitalizations associated with people aged 65 and over. The majority of this age group received at least one vaccine injection.
Deaths of Covid in the USA
The seven-day average of new daily deaths from coronavirus is nearly 800, according to Hopkins data, well below the country’s winter peak.
Walensky said that not enough is known about whether new virus variants are more deadly.
“With these variants, we are still seeing an increase in transmissibility. We still don’t know about their increased morbidity and mortality,” she said. “We still have to be very vigilant about these variants.”
US vaccines administered
The United States is administering an average of seven days of just over 3 million Covid-19 vaccines per day, according to the CDC.
After four consecutive days of more than 3 million doses of vaccine administered, Monday’s report showed 2.1 million vaccines administered. Cyrus Shahphar, data director for Covid-19 at the White House wrote in a tweet that while Monday’s figures largely reflect weekend vaccinations and therefore normally show lower numbers, Easter Sunday was also a reason for the lower-than-normal data reports.
Part of the vaccinated population in the USA
Nearly a third of the US population received at least one injection of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to CDC data, with 18.8% of Americans fully vaccinated.