Vaccinations in the United States are accelerating. But experts say you should keep wearing a mask

As the United States expands its mass vaccination campaign, public health experts are warning against complacency – and a possible further increase in cases.

On Sunday, Dr. Michael Osterholm, who heads the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, compared the current situation of Covid-19 in the United States to the “eye of the hurricane” in an interview with presenter Chuck Todd on Meet the press. Of particular concern, said Osterholm, are variants of the coronavirus that have the highest transmission rates and are considered most deadly.

“It looks like things are going very well,” said Osterholm. “You can see the blue sky. We went through a terrible, terrible year. But what we know is about to come over us is the situation with this variant B.1.1.7 … we have to keep America as safe as possible from this virus, without giving up any of the public health measures that we have taken. “

One of these public health measures has been increasingly successful recently: White House czar Covid-19, Jeff Zients said Meet the press Sunday a record 2.9 million Covid-19 vaccines were administered on Saturday, setting a new record for the third consecutive day.

On average, Zients said, the United States now administers about 2.2 million injections per day, an increase of 1.3 million doses per day compared to mid-January levels.

AND according to Andy Slavitt, a senior adviser to the White House Covid-19 response, the majority – 59 percent – of adults 65 and older received at least one dose of the vaccine, as well as about 23 percent of all adults in the United States.

The research suggests that vaccine hesitation is also falling in the United States, even as vaccine supplies are increasing. According to a new survey by the Pew Research Center on Friday, 69 percent of the United States population has already been vaccinated or plans to get a vaccine when it becomes available.

This is a significant step forward from November, when only 60 percent of American adults said they would definitely or likely receive the vaccine when it became available, according to Pew, and even more so from the nadir of the vaccine’s confidence in the vaccines. USA in September, when only 51 percent planned to be vaccinated. Public health experts believe that 70 to 80 percent of Americans will need to be vaccinated for the United States to have collective immunity.

Vaccination hesitation fell even more sharply among black Americans in the most recent Pew poll: 61 percent now say they have already been vaccinated or plan to get a vaccine, compared with 42 percent in November.

These statistics are just the latest good news about vaccines in the US, after the Food and Drug Administration authorized a third vaccine for emergency use at the end of last month, and President Joe Biden’s announcement on Tuesday that the US were “on track to have enough vaccine supplies for all adults in America by the end of May. “

On Saturday, Biden presented a even more ambitious target, suggesting that the US could have enough vaccines in mid-May.

Biden also announced a new partnership between pharmaceutical giants Merck and Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday. The two companies must work together to increase production of Johnson & Johnson’s newly approved single injection vaccine, which clinical tests have shown to be highly effective in preventing hospitalization and serious illnesses caused by Covid-19.

And billions of federal dollars for vaccine distribution are almost on the way after the Senate passed a $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package on Saturday along rigid party lines. The bill will be back in the House this week for a final vote and is expected to arrive at Biden’s desk for a signature shortly thereafter.

Combined, the vaccine news points to a much more optimistic trajectory for the country towards spring and summer, as noted by Dr. Anthony Fauci in Face the Nation Sunday.

“We need to step back gradually [on restrictions] as we vaccinate more people, ”he told hostess Margaret Brennan. “And this is happening every day, more and more people, especially as we receive more doses, which will be drastically increased as we enter in April and May.”

Don’t relax yet, say public health experts

Despite a tide of good news in recent weeks, Fauci also warned against the reversal of restrictions very quickly, pointing at his Face the Nation On Sunday, it appeared that, although Covid-19 cases in the United States have dropped dramatically in recent weeks, the decline is “starting to stagnate.”

“Stagnating at a level of 60,000 to 70,000 new cases a day is not an acceptable level,” said Fauci. “And if you look at what happened in Europe a few weeks ago, they are usually a few weeks ahead of us in those patterns, they were falling, too, so they’ve stagnated. And over the past week or so, they have seen an increase of about 9 percent in cases. “

However, not all U.S. states follow Fauci’s warnings: despite concerns about a wave fueled by variants in the U.S., Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves have taken steps to suspend the mandates. masks and loosen other public health restrictions in their states last week, alarming public health officials.

“When you look at the numbers in Mississippi,” Reeves said Jake Tapper of CNN on Sunday, “This does not justify government intervention. … Our number one tool against the virus is to put gun shots. “

According to the Washington Post, however, Mississippi lags behind the rest of the country in the distribution of vaccines per capita on Thursday, as does Texas. And although vaccines are an important mitigation tool, Osterholm advocated maintaining other techniques to prevent infections as well, informing Meet the press, “You wouldn’t pick me up tonight at a crowded restaurant somewhere, even with my vaccination.”

Noting that public health guidelines continue to recommend masks and social detachment, some of Abbott and Reeves’ Republican governors, such as West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, expressed confusion at Texas and Mississippi’s decision to relax restrictions in advance.

“For God’s sake,” said Justice Face the Nation Sunday, “If we could be a little more prudent for another 30 days, or another 45 days, or whatever it takes to reach solid ground, this is the approach that West Virginia is going to take.”

The justice stance is not only supported by public health experts, but research also suggests that it is popular: according to a new survey by ABC and Ipsos, the majority of Americans – about 56% – think that the mandates of masks are being relaxed too fast.

Zients reiterated that position for Todd on Sunday.

“We need to make sure we don’t let our guard down,” said Zients. “We need to stay on this path and overcome this pandemic.”