The White House says 100 million Americans have now been fully vaccinated against the new coronavirus, which is nearly double the 55 million who were vaccinated a month ago.
File photo:A new major vaccination center in Oakland, California, prepares for the New Coronavirus vaccine. (Feb. 16, 2021)
Jeff Zients, coordinator of the White House New Crown outbreak response team, announced at a briefing Friday (April 30) that the number was a “significant milestone.
He said, “This is 100 million Americans having the reassurance and peace of mind knowing that after a long, hard year, they finally have protection against this virus.”
Today, every American over the age of 16 is eligible for the vaccine, and President Biden has assured that by the end of May, there will be enough vaccine for every American adult to receive.
The situation in the United States is in stark contrast to that in India. India’s raging epidemic is spiraling out of control. As of Thursday, only 2 percent of India’s population had been fully vaccinated, according to the Indian Ministry of Health. On Friday, India’s health ministry notified 386,452 new cases.
For nine consecutive days, the official figure for new cases has topped 300,000. Indian media reported that some public health experts believe that the actual number of new cases may be at least five times greater than the official figure.
In light of the severity of the outbreak in India, the United States is imposing new travel restrictions on India beginning next Tuesday, May 4.
On Friday, relief supplies from the United States and other countries arrived in India. U.S. assistance includes oxygen supplies, rapid diagnostic testing equipment and vaccine production materials.
The second wave of the new crown epidemic has overwhelmed India’s health care system, with hospitals overwhelmed and oxygen supplies in severe short supply, adding to an already dire situation. Many parks and parking lots have been converted into temporary crematoriums that run around the clock.
Gayle Smith, the U.S. State Department’s global response coordinator for the new crown outbreak, said at a briefing Friday that the crisis in India “hasn’t peaked yet.
She added that the outbreak in India “will require urgent and sustained attention for some time.
Smith said most of India’s requests to the United States for oxygen, personal protective equipment and vaccine production materials “have been met,” and she called the U.S. response “fairly prompt.
Indian public health experts say the rapid spread of the epidemic in India is due to the increased contagiousness of the virus variants, in addition to a second wave of the epidemic fueled by the easing of restrictions on large groups of people earlier this year when the epidemic appeared to be slowing.
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