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Vaccination Nation: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

A COVID vaccine is administered in Ferguson, Missouri.
A COVID vaccine is administered in Ferguson, Missouri.

Many wouldn’t disagree if you said you felt like things were backsliding in the pandemic.

According to the CDC, as of the start of the week, there were roughly 72,000 new cases of Covid-19 per day in the U.S. That’s higher than the peak in the summer of 2020. 

The good news is that vaccination rates are rising. On Monday, the U.S. reported that 70 percent of adults have gotten at least one dose. It’s a milestone President Joe Biden hoped to reach a month ago. 

But as the virus surges new concerns emerge. Cases among children and teens jumped 84 percent last week according tothe American Academy of Pediatrics. And the new Lambda variant appears more resistant to the vaccines than the original virus.

There’s a lot to unpack this week. That’s why we try to get some answers in another installment of Vaccination Nation.

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Copyright 2021 WAMU 88.5

Haili Blassingame

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