Coronavirus News Update – March 18: 1 in 8 Americans Has Been Vaccinated

A street in Bozen or Bolzano, Italy, in the Alto Adige or Südtirol

As of Thursday, the world has recorded almost 122 million Covid-19 cases since the first cases in December 2019 and it seen 2.7 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such data.

While global cases of Covid-19 were up by 10% over the past week, the number of deaths declined according to the weekly epidemiological update from the World Health Organization that was published on Tuesday.

Since the start of vaccinations at the end of last year, the world has administered more than 390.2 million doses, the equivalent of 5.1 doses for every 100 people.

On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that 73.5 million people in the United States, or roughly 28.5% of the population over the age of 18, have received at least one dose, including 40 million people, or 15.5% of the same population, who have received both doses. Overall, 12% of the population – or one in eight Americans – has been fully vaccinated against the virus.

The World Health Organization and the head of the European Commission urged European nations to continue to distribute the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine after multiple countries including Germany, France, Italy, and Spain put the shot on hold over concerns about rare side effects including blood clots and abnormal bleeding.  They were joined in this effort by Emer Cooke, the executive director of the European Medicines Agency, who said that the lifesaving benefits “outweigh the risk of the side effects” and that there is no known connection between the vaccine and the blood clots.  Meanwhile, no country is on track to meet the on track to meet the bloc’s goal of vaccinating 70% of its population by September.

Eleven U.S. states in are reporting an increase in new coronavirus cases, while 20 states are reporting no change in numbers. Nineteen states are trending downward in new case numbers. The 11 states include Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Minnesota, Michigan, Maryland, West Virginia, and Mississippi, Hawaii, Vermont.

The spread of the U.K. variant of the coronavirus continues to increase in the United States. Last Thursday there had been 3,300 cases in all but three states as well as in the District of Colombia and there are over 4,700 cases across the same number of states.

In Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker announced that, as of April 19, people ages 16 and older would be eligible for a coronavirus vaccine, regardless of profession or any comorbidities.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump on Tuesday recommended Americans get vaccinated, following months of relative silence on the issue.  “I would recommend it,” he said during an interview on Fox News. “I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it …  But again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that… But it is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine and it is something that works.”

(Photo: Accura Media Group)