US Sees Big Spike in COVID Vaccinations

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WEDNESDAY, Aug. 11, 2021

The average number of first COVID-19 vaccine doses a day in the United States jumped 95% in the past month, new federal government data shows.

The daily number rose from 226,209 on July 5 to about 441,198 on Aug. 5. It bottomed out at around 218,696 on July 7, but has steadily climbed in every state since then, CBS News reported.

Adults aged 25 to 39 accounted for more than 25% of Americans who received their first shots over the past two weeks, which is the largest share by age group, CBS News reported.

Some of the big increases have been in states that were long below the national average for vaccinations.

Alabama has one of the lowest vaccination rates, but the average rate of new vaccinations jumped 100%, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show, CBS News reported.

The next largest increase was in Louisiana, where first shots rose 84%. Alabama and Louisiana are among the states with some of largest recent coronavirus surges. Nebraska and Minnesota were third and fourth in terms of increases in new vaccinations, CBS News reported.

The increase in first vaccinations comes as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths climb nationwide, fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant.

Some of those new first doses may have been driven by a growing list of employers requiring workers to get the shots, CBS News reported. Meanwhile, the share of unvaccinated Americans who said they would get a COVID-19 vaccine "only if required" fell from 6% to 3% last month, according to a recent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The largest jump in first doses over the past month has been in children. More than 4 in 10 adolescents, aged 12 to 15, now have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine — up 8.5% from a month prior, CBS News reported. The share of older teens who have had at least one shot climbed 6.5 percentage points over the past month, to 50% nationwide.

For older teens headed to college, some 675 campuses now require vaccinations for at least some of their students or staff, according to a tally from The Chronicle of Higher Education.

More information

Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on COVID vaccines.

SOURCE: CBS News

Robert Preidt and Robin Foster