White House officials on Thursday highlighted improving numbers on vaccinations in the United States, noting that rates have increased in the past few days as more Americans take note of the difficulties that have come about due to the Delta variant of coronavirus.
White House COVID-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar shared a tweet in which he noted that around 864,000 doses of the vaccine were administered in the past day, dwarfing the previous day’s totals by more than 135,000 doses. That number included over half million Americans getting their first vaccination dose.
These figures were the highest single-day numbers of vaccinations seen in more than a month, Shahpar said.
Thursday just in: +864K doses reported administered over yesterdays total, including 585K newly vaccinated. Highest single day numbers in over a month! Unlike prior waves, we have safe and effective vaccines that can minimize the impacts of COVID-19. Let's get everyone protected!
— Dr. Cyrus Shahpar (@cyrusshahpar46) August 5, 2021
In remarks he made to reporters, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said that many of the new vaccinations were happening in states where the Delta variant was hitting people hardest — including states like Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Oklahoma.
“Importantly, we’re seeing the most significant increases in the states with the highest case rates,” Zients said. “We’ve more than doubled the average number of people newly vaccinated each day over the past three weeks in the states with the highest case rates.”
Americans are taking note of the risks of being unvaccinated, and “they’re responding by doing their part, rolling up their sleeves and getting vaccinated,” Zients added.
The increases in vaccination rates can be attributed to fears of the Delta variant, which is more contagious than the original strain of COVID-19 seen last year. But new vaccinations are also likely being driven by vaccine requirements by employers and schools across the country.
Still, there remain many difficulties in getting people who aren’t yet vaccinated to agree to it.
An Economist/YouGov poll published this week found that 18 percent of Americans have said they will never get vaccinated, while another 9 percent said they are unsure about doing so. When those saying they would never get a vaccine were asked what could be done to change their minds, the poll demonstrated that very few in that group could be persuaded to take the vaccine.
Just 6 percent of respondents in that subgroup said they would get the vaccine if their doctor told them to. Nine percent said a cash incentive of $100 would convince them, and only 13 percent said full Food and Drug Administration authorization would make them change their minds.
Even when shown that getting the vaccine would protect their families from COVID, only 16 percent of those who said they’d never get vaccinated expressed any interest in adjusting their views and getting the shots they need in order to give their families that protection.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.