Vaccination Rates Rose In August As COVID Cases Surged Due To The Delta Variant
Vaccination rates were up in August as COVID-19 surges due to the delta variant led more people to seek the vaccine. That's according to White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeffrey Zients, who spoke at a briefing for reporters Tuesday. About 14 million U.S. residents received their first dose of a COVID-19 shot in August, he said, which is about 4 million more than in July.
Zients credits the widespread adoption of vaccine mandates by governments, schools and businesses. He pointed to the jump in vaccinations in Washington state, where the weekly vaccinate rate rose 34% after the state announced vaccination requirements for state employees, teachers and school staff.
"Bottom line," he said, "vaccination mandates work." Tens of millions of people now face mandatory vaccine requirements, he said.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said that she hoped last week's full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for people 16 and older would encourage even more people to get vaccinated as the Labor Day holiday approaches. The CDC has not yet released any data on any possible impact that the full approval of the vaccine is having on vaccination rates.
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/31/1032994955/vaccination-rates-rose-in-august-as-covid-cases-surge-due-to-the-delta-variant