1 out of 3 USA adults vaccinated against COVID

But millions of doses are awaiting demand from those who did not step up early

Nearly 100 million people in the USA were “fully vaccinated” against COVID-19 as of Thursday morning, according to the CDC, nearly 1 out of every 3 adults. Among those over 65, the full vaccination rate has reached 68%.

While Moderna and Pfizer are both cranking out enough vaccine doses for the US government to ship out about 30 million doses of vaccine each week, other companies appear to be struggling. The Wall Street Journal reported that AstraZeneca is having trouble compiling data to support its application to the FDA for emergency use of its vaccine, and Johnson & Johnson is working to resolve issues at the Baltimore factory that was supposed to be churning out millions of doses by now. At least two more vaccines are in the pipeline, one from Sanofi and another by Novavax. Novavax is expected to report its clinical trial results imminently.

The supply of vaccine doses distributed but not yet used is huge — well over 10 million doses among the three vaccines authorized for use in the USA.

Two clusters of COVID-19 cases of the B.1.351 variant, associated with South Africa, were traced to an indoor social gathering and a workplace that had been reported for not following COVID-19 precautions. The B.1.351 variant is a concern because it appears to break through some of the antibodies developed after COVID-19 infection or vaccination. The clusters included 17 people who got COVID-19, including one death.

Cruises may resume in July, now that the CDC and cruise lines have worked out safety measures to prevent rampant shipwide infections, such as were seen at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of people were infected with COVID-19 after a Northern California man unknowingly infected with COVID-19 boarded a coastal cruise.

While everyone took precautions against COVID, we stayed safe from the flu — so safe that the flu dropped to “miniscule” levels worldwide. Maybe masks aren’t so bad?

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