The CDC saw an uptick in vaccinations recently as the Delta variant continues to infect people in areas with high unvaccinated populations.
White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain tweeted Sunday that vaccinations are picking back up, with 790,000 shots administered in 24 hours. “Might be the biggest 24-hour period since early July,” Klain said in his tweet.
White House COVID-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahpar also tweeted last week that Covid vaccinations had risen 14% over the prior week.
The positive news is a rare bright spot as the more infectious Delta variant now makes up about 83% of COVID-19 cases. At the same time, the percentage of U.S. adults with at least one dose of a Covid vaccine is 68%, only slightly above last month’s figure.
On Sunday, President Biden’s Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said on CNN that the U.S. is heading in the “wrong direction” because of low vaccination rates.
“It is really a pandemic among the unvaccinated,” Dr. Fauci told CNN.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said last week that 97% of those hospitalized with COVID-19 were unvaccinated. According to the CDC, only 60% of U.S. adults have been fully vaccinated.