About a month late, the United States has reached a vaccination goal proclaimed by U.S. President Joe Biden. As of Monday, 70 percent of all adults have received at least one vaccine dose, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."We have enough vaccine for every American who wants one," said government Corona Coordinator Jeff Zients. All those eligible for vaccination need to roll up their sleeves now and do their part, he said.At the same time, health officials issued an urgent warning about the delta variant of the coronavirus.Actually, the 70 percent mark was supposed to be reached already on Independence Day on July 4. However, the target was missed at that time despite numerous vaccination incentives and a large stockpile of vaccines.

In the USA, almost 50 percent of the total population of around 330 million people have been fully vaccinated to date, and around 58 percent have received at least the first injection. In view of the rapidly rising number of new Corona infections, significantly more people in the USA have recently been vaccinated again.

At the same time, the number of new Corona infections in the country continues to rise. Over the past few days, the U.S. has averaged about 72,000 new infections per day. That represents a 44 percent increase from the previous week and is above last summer's peak, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) chief Rochelle Walensky said.Hospitalizations and deaths are also on the rise, she said. "Although we are desperate to be done with this pandemic, clearly Covid-19 is not done with us yet. And so our fight has to go on a little longer."

Walensky warned people around the country that the delta variant is "highly contagious." "If you get sick with the alpha variant, you could infect about two other unvaccinated people. If you get sick with the delta variant, we estimate you could infect about five other unvaccinated people," the CDC chief said.

The vaccination campaign is gaining momentum again

That makes it all the more important to get vaccinated, he said. People can still become infected despite vaccination. But the probability that they will fall ill is definitely lower, he said."No vaccine is 100 percent effective, so vaccine breakthroughs are to be expected," U.S. health expert Anthony Fauci also said. "Most of these infections are asymptomatic or mild." Prominent U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has also tested positive for coronavirus despite being vaccinated. His symptoms were mild, Graham stressed. "I'm very glad I was vaccinated because without vaccination I certainly wouldn't feel as well as I do now," the Republican wrote on Twitter.

The vaccination campaign in the U.S. had been stalled since June, with officials just begging people to get vaccinated. In recent weeks, the number of first-time vaccinations has increased by nearly 70 percent, Corona coordinator Zients said. In the past seven days alone, three million Americans have gotten vaccinated for the first time, according to the report. That's the highest weekly average since July 4, he said.

Photo by Towfiqu Barbhuiya