The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said she is ‘really worried’ and is urging caution in states that are opening up because the majority of the population is unvaccinated.
As of Wednesday morning, 61 million people in the U.S. – or 18.4 percent of the population – have received an initial dose and 32.1 million – 9.7 percent – are fully inoculated.
This means 90 percent of the population has not received both doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson jab.
Additionally, after several days of more than two million people being vaccinated, just 1.6 million were immunized on Monday and 1.5 million on Tuesday.
However, many states including Texas and Mississippi have lifted or are about to lift all restrictions.
‘So many people are being vaccinated every day and yet we are still not yet at 10 percent of the population vaccinated in this country,’ CDC director Dr Rochelle Walensky said on ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday.
‘We still have 90 percent of people who are unprotected. So what really worries me about really lifting all restrictions, lifting mask mandates, is that we still have a large proportion of this population that is not protected and that we really do need to protect as we scale up vaccination.’
It comes after a report from the Houston Health Department revealed the variant, known as B.1.1.7 was found at more than three-quarters of the city’s wastewater plants in samples collected February 22, one week after Governor Greg Abbott decided to open up the state.
This is 47 percent higher than the number of plants the strain was detected at just two weeks earlier.
CDC director Dr Rochelle Walensky warned that just 9.7% of the population has been fully inoculated against COVID-19, meaning that 90% does not have adequate protection
She urged cautions as some states like Texas and Mississippi lift restrictions on businesses and do away with mask mandates, but the number of people being vaccinated every day dropped from more than 2 million to 1.5 million
Walensky (pictured) also spoke about the guidelines for fully vaccinated adults and said the recommendations are for what people should be doing in ‘private settings’ not in public
Walensky also addressed the recently updated CDC guidelines for Americans that are fully vaccinated.
According to the recommendations, fully immunized Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing.
The guidelines also say that vaccinated people can visit unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for severe illness.
However, the agency still recommends that Americans avoid travel.
Walensky said the guidelines do not suggest that people who are protected should congregate in large settings or meet up without wearing masks.
‘They reflect what people should be doing in private setting…in the privacy of their own home,’ she told Good Morning America.
Her comments come after a new report released on Monday from the Houston Health Department and Houston Water, which had been testing the city’s wastewater since May 2020.
The analysis was conducted on February 22, when officials collected wastewater samples from the city’s 39 plants.
Results showed that samples from 31 of the plants had traces of B.1.1.7., indicating its presence at 79 percent of facilities.
This is an increase from the analysis performed two weeks earlier, on February 8, which found the variant in samples from 21 of the treatment plants, about 47 percent.
Of the wastewater samples that were collected on February 22, about 19 percent detected the UK variant.
A new analysis from February 22 found traces of the highly contagious UK variant in 79% of Houston’s wastewater treatment plants, or 31 out of 39. This is an increase from February 8, when the variant was found in samples from 21 of the plants, about 47%
Despite vaccinations falling overall, some individual states have ramped up efforts.
On Tuesday evening, Alaska became the first state to open vaccines to everyone aged 16 or older living or working in the state.
Alaska has fully vaccinated 16.3 percent of its population, which is the highest rate in the nation, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of CDC data.
‘If Alaskans had any questions about vaccine eligibility and criteria, I hope today’s announcement clears it up for you,’ said Adam Crum, the commissioner of the state health department.’
‘Simply put, you are eligible to get the vaccine.’
On Tuesday evening, Alaska became the first U.S. state to open vaccines to anyone living or working in the state above the age of 16. Pictured: Registered Nurse Banu Mufale administers a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to physical therapist Becca Mamrol at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, December
The White House is planning to secure an additional 100 million doses of the J&J vaccine after purchasing 100 million doses last year for $1 billion. Pictured: Vials of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine on a table, March 2021
Governor Mike Dunleavy said large swaths of the population have already been vaccinated, including 90 percent of senior citizens.
He encouraged anyone in the state on the fence about getting a vaccine to do so.
‘[This] gives us the ability now in Alaska to far outpace other states,’ he said.
In addition, the White House plans to purchase 100 million more doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronaviruss vaccine, NBC News reported.
The US government has already purchased 300 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and is paying J&J more than $1 billion to produce more than 100 million doses by the end of June.
That contract is priced at roughly $10 per vaccine dose, including a previous $456 million the government promised to J&J for vaccine development in March 2020.
According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, J&J’s vaccines will be free if they’re used in a vaccination campaign.
This means the New Jersey-based drugmaker and AstraZeneca are the only two companies to pledge not to price their inoculations for profit.
The news about acquiring additional doses comes after pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co announced plans to help J&J produce its one-dose shot.
President Biden is set to announce the plans at a Wednesday meeting with executives from J&J and Merck, according to NBC News.
The U.S. Government has the option to purchase additional doses under a subsequent agreement. We look forward to any future discussions with the U.S. Government and to participating in the event at the White House later today,’ J&J said in a statement Wednesday morning.
