President Joe Biden expressed disappointment with the slowdown in COVID-19 vaccination rates in the United States and said it was “extremely important” for Americans to be vaccinated against the virus as infections rose again.
Speaking during a Q&A meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio, President Biden said the public health crisis has largely become a problem for the unvaccinated.
“We have a pandemic among those who have not been vaccinated it is so simple“, He said during the meeting broadcast by CNN.
The president also expressed optimism that in the coming months the authorities will approve the vaccine for use in children under 12 years of age. But he criticized those Americans who enjoy the right to be vaccinated who are still reluctant to take it.
“If you are vaccinated, you will not be hospitalized, you will not be admitted to the intensive care unit and you will not die,” Biden told the Mount St. Joseph. “So it’s very important that we all act like Americans to take care of each other.”
The president’s statement comes as in the United States cases of COVID-19 nearly tripled in the past two weeks amid an attack on false information about vaccines that is overloading hospitals and exhausting doctors.
“Our staff is disappointedSays Chad Neilsen, director of infection prevention at UF Health Jacksonville, a Florida hospital, which is canceling surgeries and other procedures due to the growing number of unvaccinated and COVID-19 infected patients are laid there. Today in this hospital are 134 patients with COVID, from a minimum of 16 people in mid-May.
Across the U.S., the weekly average of daily new cases rose over the past two weeks to more than 37,000 on Tuesday, from less than 13,700 on July 6, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Health officials blame the delta variant as well as the slowdown in vaccination rates. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 56.2% of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
In Louisiana, health officials reported 5,388 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the third-highest daily figure since the pandemic began in early 2020. Hospital admissions rose to 844 nationwide, from 600 which were in the middle of June. Authorities in New Orleans urged residents to resume wearing masks inside.
Utah reported 295 people hospitalized for the virus, the highest figure since February. Over the past week in this state have been confirmed on average about 622 new cases per day, about three times the number of infections recorded in early June. Health data show that the new cases are almost entirely related to unvaccinated people.
Jeremy Johnson, pastor of one of Missouri’s largest churches, talks about the reasons believers give for not getting vaccinated against COVID-19. He says he wants them to know that not only is it good for them to be vaccinated, but that this is something the Bible encourages.
““I think a lot of it comes from fear,” said Pastor Johnson. “They say, ‘I believe in God, not in science.’ But the truth is that science and God are not two things between which they have to choose”.
Many churches in Missouri currently have vaccination clinics. Meanwhile, about 200 church leaders have signed a statement urging Christians to get vaccinated. On Wednesday they announced a follow-up campaign on the issue.
Opposition to vaccination is particularly strong among white evangelical Protestants, who make up more than a third of Missouri residents, according to a 2019 report by the Pew Research Center.
On Wednesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said hospital staff as well as those working in health clinics managed by the city authorities would be required to be vaccinated or tested weekly as part of efforts to fight the increase of cases with COVID-19.
Mr De Blasio’s order will not apply to teachers, police officers or other city staff, but is part of an intensified focus of the authorities on the need for vaccination as Delta-infected infections are on the rise.
The number of vaccine doses being injected daily in this city has dropped to less than 18,000, from a peak of more than 100,000 doses in early April. About 65% of all adults are fully vaccinated, compared to about 60% of staff in public hospitals.
