In which countries does the delta variant circulate the most?
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(CNN) -
Efforts to vaccinate more Americans against COVID-19 are increasingly urgent, as one expert warns that if vaccination rates do not rise, the dangerous delta variant could continue to evolve.
"The next variant is right around the corner if we don't all get vaccinated," Admiral Brett Giroir, former director of coronavirus testing under President Trump, told CNN's Chris Cuomo.
"I just beg the American people to understand that to defeat this virus, we have to increase everyone's level of immunity, and we do."
Currently, only about 49.8% of the population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
And with so many people still lacking adequate protection, cases are on the rise.
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In the coming weeks, surges are likely to hit the entire United States, not just areas with low vaccination rates, former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said Wednesday.
However, the outbreaks will not be as explosive in areas with higher vaccination coverage, he added.
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As cases rise, hospitalizations and deaths are likely to rise as well, according to joint forecasts released Wednesday by the CDC.
The forecast predicts that 624,000 to 642,000 deaths will be counted by August 28.
As of Wednesday, there have been 614,342 deaths from COVID-19 in the US, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
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If you are not protected against COVID-19, the virus is likely to infect you, Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN's Pamela Brown on Wednesday.
"This virus is highly infectious. Don't try to run down the game clock. This virus will find you, eventually infect you," Osterholm said.
Fortunately, available vaccines appear to offer a strong defense against the delta variant, especially when it comes to serious illness and death, Frieden said.
"We are at war with this virus that has already killed more than 610,000 Americans. We now have the tools, with vaccines and masks, to stop further death, suffering and destruction," CNN medical analyst Leana Wen said Wednesday.
'We've let our kids down,' says FDA vaccine adviser
Low rates of covid-19 vaccination in the U.S. put children, many of whom cannot be vaccinated, at risk, said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine adviser for the Food and Drug Administration, on Wednesday. of the USA (FDA, for its acronym in English).
"I think we have let our children down," Offit told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
There is currently no licensed vaccine for children under 12 years of age in the United States, so young children depend on vaccinating those around them to protect themselves, Offit explained.
And many children who are 12 and older have not yet been vaccinated, he added.
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Offit noted that many children are about to go back to school, during a time of year when the virus is more easily transmitted and the delta variant circulates.
"We need to increase vaccination rates so that these children can be protected," Offit said.
Highlighting that point, the president of Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told CNN that his staff are seeing sick babies with COVID-19 in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Dr. Trey Dunbar told CNN that children are falling victim to a pandemic that has a simple solution: adult vaccination.
"Covid is a preventable disease," he said.
"It is difficult for us as pediatricians to see children affected by a preventable disease. Children are not like adults. They do not have the option to get vaccinated," he explained.
Delta variant now accounts for more than 93% of covid-19 cases in the United States
"So yeah, it makes a big difference when adults make decisions for children and adults make decisions that could perhaps prevent the diseases that we see in children," Dunbar added.
Only six ICU beds available in a state due to covid-19
Even after the development and launch of the covid-19 vaccines, which so many health professionals were waiting for, the increase in cases has overwhelmed hospitals.
Arkansas health officials reported a "record low number of available ICU beds" on Wednesday.
According to Danyelle McNeill, Chief Public Information Officer for the Arkansas Department of Health, the state had only 25 ICU beds available.
According to the Arkansas covid-19 control panel, there were a total of 1,232 positive coronavirus admissions.
The total number of positive admissions for covid-19 in ICU is 466, and the total number of positive admissions for covid-19 in mechanical respirators is 260.
As of Wednesday morning, Mississippi had only six open ICU beds available in the entire state, said Dr. Jonathan Wilson, managing director and manager of covid-19 Incidents, during a briefing by leaders of the Covid-19 Medical Center. the University of Mississippi.
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"A very simple number, six. That's the number of open ICU beds we had in the state of Mississippi this morning. Six. So the situation is getting dire, not just here at the Medical Center, here at Metro Jackson. But the entire state. Our neighboring states are going through similar situations, "Wilson said.
"We are doing the best that we can, from a state standpoint, to try to distribute to patients to ensure that the medical care that we know is provided. But we are not on the cusp of this, we know that we are not on the cusp of this wave and that's bad, and it's probably going to get a little bit worse, "added Wilson.
CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas, Naomi Thomas, Jeff Simon, Nadia Romero and Raja Razek contributed to this report.
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