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Vaccines Are Being Required For Travel — Here’s How Unvaccinated People Feel About That
October 7, 2021
May 1, 2021
More than 100 million Americans have now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the CDC—a major milestone for the U.S. that comes well ahead of schedule—but a sudden dropoff in the vaccination rate could mean a large number of people may not ever get the vaccination, making it impossible to eradicate the virus.
Around 55% of U.S. adults have now received at least one shot, meaning the number of fully vaccinated will continue to steadily rise as second doses are administered.
After an initial rush for shots, vaccine demand has waned—even though all U.S. adults are now eligible to receive a Covid vaccine.
The 7-day rolling average for shots administered in the U.S. has dropped below 2.5 million, according to the CDC—down significantly from a high of more than 3.2 million on April 11.
47.7%. That's the percentage of Americans who are still unvaccinated that said they're likely to get a shot, according to the latest Household Pulse Survey from the Census Bureau.
States and localities are moving ahead with easing restrictions and lifting mask mandates, despite warnings from federal health officials that it is far too early to do so. Officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci have especially emphasized mask-wearing and social distancing need to continue while indoors, as contagious new variants keep spreading.
President Joe Biden initially set a goal of having 100 million shots in Americans' arms by his 100th day in office, but the U.S. blew by that mark—more than doubling it. Over 237 million shots have now been administered, with "fully vaccinated" being defined as two weeks after someone receives a second dose of either Pfizer or Moderna or the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. With around 30% of the population fully vaccinated, the U.S. is ahead of most other major countries in terms of vaccinations, such as the U.K. (21% fully vaccinated) and France (10% fully vaccinated). Only a handful of countries are ahead, like Israel (56%) and Chile (34%). But health experts have repeatedly emphasized widespread vaccinations are the only way to end the pandemic because it will create a level of herd immunity that will end Covid’s ability to spread widely.
Vaccine hesitancy appears heavily divided along partisan lines. Polls have found Republicans and those who voted for Donald Trump are among the most likely to refuse to get vaccinated.
Source: Forbes
Image Source: Getty Images
