The United States is inching toward its goal of getting 70% of people vaccinated — but there is a slew of people who are “sitting ducks” for another COVID-19 outbreak, according to CNN.
States are ‘sitting ducks’ for COVID-19
National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins told CNN that there are about 12 states that have reached the 70% mark for vaccinations. The other states, though, remain vulnerable to variants and the virus.
- “There are 12 states that are already at 70%. I worry about the ones that are way below that, and they are sitting ducks for the next outbreak of COVID-19 — which shouldn’t have to happen now,” Collins told CNN.
The states that have the lowest vaccination rates right now include Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming, according to CNN.
Unvaccinated remain at risk for COVID-19
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, echoed those statements earlier this week, saying that people remain exposed to the virus if they don’t get the vaccine.
- “We have pockets of this country that have lower rates of vaccination,” Walensky said, according to Forbes. “I worry that this virus is an opportunist and that where we have low rates of vaccination are where we may see it again. And so really the issue now is to make sure we get to those communities as well.”
Indeed, The Washington Post reported that unvaccinated Americans remain the most vulnerable to the virus right now, even as cases dwindle across the country.
- “Alarmingly, the risk of hospitalization among the unvaccinated has more than doubled compared with January, likely because of more contagious and deadlier variants,” according to The Washington Post.