As the Rate of Vaccinations Peaks, Biden Pushes for Employee Incentives
With over half of American adults now vaccinated with at least one Covid shot, President Joe Biden is acting to keep the momentum rolling by offering employers tax credits if they will give their employees incentives to receive the injections.
“As we move into the vaccination campaign focused on working age adults, one concern I've heard from so many Americans is that they can't afford to take the time off to get vaccinated or lose a day's work because they are feeling slightly under the weather after their shot,” Biden said in remarks Wednesday afternoon.
The CDC reports that total vaccinations reached almost 216 million yesterday. Biden’s goal of 200 million in his first 100 days will be reached tomorrow. (Some 20.1 million managed to be vaccinated under Trump.)
While a majority (51.5%) of adult Americans have gotten a jab, only 40.5% of the entire population has received an injection, far short of 70%+ needed for herd immunity. More hopefully, 80.6% of the generation over 65 years has taken at least one shot.
The rate of vaccinations has stalled at an average of just over 3 million a day and has started to drift lower as the supply of those most eager to be vaccinated is used up. With a considerable supply of the vaccines now delivered and many vaccination centers having appointments available, it is time to take off the brakes and push for everyone who can be persuaded to get their dose.
Personal Physicians May Help Convince Skeptics
The C.D.C., for instance, is working with states to identify primary care doctors in neighborhoods with a high “social vulnerability index” to get them vaccines.
“It’s really going to be all about the ground game,” Dr. Choucair said. “It’s going to be about planning at the local level. It’s going to be about microplans. It’s going to be about county by county, ZIP code by ZIP code, census tract by census tract to make sure what are the strategies that work.”
Some Doses Go Begging
In total, nearly half of Iowa's counties, or 43 out of 99, are refusing extra doses of the vaccine as demand dwindles across the state. Of those counties, 12 are experiencing high rates of coronavirus infections: Clay, Clayton, Dickinson, Emmet, Fremont, Ida, Lyon, O'Brien, Palo Alto, Sac, Taylor and Woodbury.
Voter registration information shows that each of those 12 counties leans heavily Republican, the Associated Press reported. That falls in line with national polling that suggests vaccine hesitancy is more common among Republican voters than Democrats.
Worldwide Vaccinations Approach 1 Billion
The biggest vaccination campaign in history is underway. More than 944 million doses have been administered across 170 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 15.9 million doses a day.
US Vaccinations by Age (Cumulative %)
Age 4/13 4/20
75> 78.5% 79.9%
65-74 79.6% 81.6%
50-64 53.9% 58.3%
40-49 40.8% 45.6%
30-39 34.5% 39.1%
29-18 25.0% 29.6%
<18 1.3% 2.0%
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Bloomberg’s Vaccination Tracker
| Day |
|
Delivered | Total Shots | 1st Shot (% of Pop) | Fully Vac. (% of Pop) |
| 4/20 | Tue | 277,938,875 |
215,951,909
+2,563,671 |
134,445,595 (40.5%)
+1,178,600 |
87,255,919 (33.8) |
| 4/19 | Mon | 272,030,795 |
213,388,238
+1,806,929 |
133,266,995 (40.1%)
+945,367 |
86,223,506 (33.3%) |
| 4/18 | Sun | 264,505,725 |
211,581,309
+2,174,495 |
132,321,628 (39.9%)
+1,074,082 |
85,365,180 |
| 4/17 | Sat | 264,505,725 |
209,406,814
+3,534,901 |
131,247,546 (39.5%)
+2,926,926 |
83,976,957 |
| 4/16 | Fri |
264,499,715
264,505,725 |
205,871,913
+3,588,990 |
128,320,620 (39%)
+577,524 |
82,203,088 |
| 4/15 | Thu | 258,502,815 |
202,282,923
+3,965,883 |
127,743,096 (38.5)
+1,920,228 |
80,360,022 |
| 4/14 | Wed | 255,400,665 |
198,317,040
+3,525,204 |
125,822,868 (37.9%)
+1,905,483 |
78,267,353 |
| 4/13 | Tue | 250,998,265 |
194,791,836
+2,509,055 |
123,917,385 (37.3%)
+1,621,855 |
76,681,252 |
|
2/27
1/19 12/18 12/11 |
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J&J vaccine pre-Biden Moderna Pfizer/Bio |
authorized
authorized authorized |
