U.S. frets about worsening pandemic as full vaccinations hit 200 mln

A woman leaves a COVID-19 test and vaccination site near Times Square in New York, the United States, Dec. 7, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Doctors and experts are warning that those who refuse to take COVID-19 vaccines are creating a deadly domino effect for the country -- they are getting sick, spreading the virus to loved ones and the community, filling hospital beds and using up scarce medical resources.

NEW YORK, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. new cases, daily deaths and hospitalizations still rose, although more than 200 million people have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus as of late Wednesday, about 60 percent of the population in the United States, with an average of 1.92 million doses administered per day in the past week, a 35 percent hike over the week before.

The vaccination "achievement comes as the nation's tallies of daily deaths and new cases rose in the past week and hospitalization rates jumped by 10 percent. The looming threat of the newly identified Omicron variant of the coronavirus also hangs over the country as it enters the holiday season. Omicron cases have been detected in 21 states so far," reported The Washington Post on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, The New York Times (NYT) reported that the United States is averaging about 121,300 coronavirus cases a day, an increase of about 27 percent from two weeks ago, and reported deaths are up 12 percent, to an average of about 1,275 per day; more than 55,000 coronavirus patients are hospitalized nationwide, far fewer than in September, but an increase of more than 15 percent over the past two weeks.

"U.S. health care workers said their situations had been worsened by staff shortages brought on by burnout, illnesses and resistance to vaccine mandates," said the report, adding that "even states that rank among the highest in vaccination rates are struggling," like Maine, where about 73 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, but the cases recently reached their pandemic peak.

Meanwhile, doctors and experts are warning that those who refuse to take COVID-19 vaccines are creating a deadly domino effect for the country. They are getting sick, spreading the virus to loved ones and the community, filling hospital beds, and using up scarce medical resources, Marschall Runge, CEO of Michigan Medicine and dean of the University of Michigan Medical School, was quoted by USA Today as saying.

A student prepares to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in Los Angeles, California, the United States, on Aug. 30, 2021. (Xinhua)

POLL, DATA

Released on Thursday, a polling of parents' views from the Kaiser Family Foundation said that about three in 10 U.S. parents reported they had gotten their 5- to 11-year-olds a shot of COVID-19 vaccine or said that they planned to right away, while 32 percent said they were going to wait and see, 7 percent said they would only if required and 29 percent said they definitely wouldn't.

Roughly five million, or 18 percent, of the estimated 28.4 million U.S. children in the 5-to-11 age bracket have gotten at least one shot in the five weeks since they were cleared to get vaccinated, federal data showed. The picture varied by region, with rates in several New England states above 30 percent and some states in the South far off the national pace.

"COVID-19 vaccinations for children 5 to 11 years old are off to a slow start in many parts of the U.S., federal data show, underscoring the challenges health officials face in persuading parents to inoculate their children," reported The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, adding that "the pace of vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-olds nationally had slowed significantly after initial high demand."

A woman waits for injection of COVID-19 booster vaccine in Burlingame, California, the United States, Dec. 4, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)

NEW DRUG, VACCINE

On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the first drug for widespread use in preventing COVID-19 in Americans with weakened immune systems who have not been adequately protected by vaccines.

The antibody treatment, which was developed by AstraZeneca and will be sold under the brand name Evusheld, is engineered to be "long-acting," meaning the body metabolizes it more slowly so that it can stay active for months.

"That is expected to offer longer-lasting protection -- perhaps for half a year -- compared to the monoclonal antibody treatments that are given to high-risk people already sick with COVID-19," reported NYT.

Also on Wednesday, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that people might need a fourth COVID-19 shot sooner than expected after preliminary research showed the new Omicron variant can undermine protective antibodies generated by the vaccine the company developed with BioNTech, said a CNBC report.

Bourla noted that a preliminary study by the company was based on a synthetic, lab-created copy of the variant and more data is needed from tests against the real virus. Those real-world results will be more accurate and are expected in the next two weeks, said the report.