The Administration chaired by Joe Biden has renewed its promises to promote vaccination against COVID-19, with the purchase of millions of additional doses and a plan that will try to improve the impending of the black and Latino communities, with
higher mortality rates due to to the coronavirus
.
"We want to make sure that we give every American equal access to the vaccine and health services," Andy Slavitt, head of the coronavirus team at the White House, said at a press conference Wednesday.
The announcement of a series of measures to ensure a more equitable distribution comes after it became known that the doses are reaching, on average, 4% of the white population, but only 1.9% of the black population and 1.8% of the population. the latin.
Inequality in distribution is critical amid dose shortages and delays in the vaccination campaign.
In the last month, only 23.5 million doses have been injected and some 3.4 million people have completed the two doses necessary to have maximum immunity to the virus.
Country's COVID-19 Vaccine Shortage Impacts Black and Latino Communities Most
Jan. 26, 202100: 49
Black, indigenous and Latino communities are also the most affected by the worsening of the pandemic in the country, which registers record mortality figures.
With
nearly 80,000 deaths
to date, January has already become the most tragic month for the coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Across the country, the black population has the highest mortality rate from the virus: 147 deaths per 100,000 people.
Second are the American Indian or Alaska Native communities, with 138, and then
Latinos,
with 121 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English). ).
The arrival of new mutations detected in the United Kingdom and Brazil, which in principle would be more contagious, has raised fears that hospitalizations will skyrocket, and state officials are demanding more doses as soon as possible.
294 infections of the mutation
discovered in the United Kingdom
have been detected
in 24 states, confirmed this Wednesday at the press conference before COVID-19 Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's leading expert on infectious diseases.
Florida and California top the list with the highest number of infections.
Cases of the coronavirus variant found in the United Kingdom skyrocket in Florida
Jan. 26, 202102: 09
Fauci indicated that there is initial evidence that vaccines already approved for emergency use are effective against this mutation, as well as for the one detected in Brazil, but the immune response would be weaker in the strain identified in South Africa, of which still there are no cases yet detected in the United States.
The president announced Tuesday that his Administration will sign an agreement with Pfizer and Moderna to have enough doses to vaccinate almost all of the country's citizens by the end of the summer or early fall.
It will buy an additional 100 million doses from each company, 200 in total, to be added to the 400 million that the federal government has already purchased.
The measure does not imply that precautions should be abandoned.
"
The stark truth is that it will be months before we can vaccinate most Americans,
" said Biden when announcing the purchase, "in the coming months, masks, not vaccines, are the best defense against COVID-19. ”.
The Biden Administration confirmed Wednesday that dose shipments will increase by 16% starting next week and that governors will now have certainty about the number of doses they will receive and the delivery times.
People line up to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at a church in the Bronx, New York, one of the areas hardest hit by the pandemic.
AP
Biden has a goal of vaccinating
100 million people in 100 days
(a deadline that is April 29).
State governments have welcomed their initiative, but fear that even if additional doses are shipped, this will not be enough given the current severe shortage.
[Why are new variants of the coronavirus now appearing?]
"We appreciate that the Administration indicates that it will provide states with slightly higher allocations in the coming weeks, but we are going to need many more," Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a centrist Republican, said in a statement Tuesday.
With information from CNN, NBC News and The New York Times.