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(CNN) -
A new data analysis identifies groups of unvaccinated people in the United States, most of them in the south of the country, who are vulnerable to sudden increases in covid-19 cases and could become breeding grounds for even more deadly virus variants.
The analysis, conducted by researchers at Georgetown University, identified 30 groups of counties with low vaccination rates and significant population sizes.
The five largest of these groups span large swaths of the southeastern United States and a smaller portion in the Midwest.
The five groups are found primarily in parts of eight states, beginning in eastern Georgia and extending west to Texas and north to much of southern Missouri.
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The groups also include parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
They are made up primarily of smaller counties, but also cities like Montgomery, Alabama;
Shreveport, Louisiana;
and Amarillo, Texas.
Most of these states are experiencing increases in covid-19 cases.
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Those vulnerable groups put the entire United States, and to some extent, the world, at risk of returning to 2020 for COVID-19.
It is that areas of high transmission can become breeding grounds for variants that could be resistant to vaccines.
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"These groups of unvaccinated people are what stands in the way of us permanently eliminating this virus," said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, CNN medical analyst and professor of Medicine and Surgery at George Washington University.
Epidemiologist Shweta Bansal and her team from the U.S. Covid-19 Vaccination Tracking Project analyzed vaccination data by county from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health departments. state.
The project has been tracking the application of the vaccine since it began in December.
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