COVID-19: CDC to count those with AstraZeneca, Novavax shots as ‘fully vaccinated’

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States has now termed the "fully vaccinated" people as those who have been injected with AstraZeneca and Novavax doses during clinical trials. The CDC declared on October 18, Monday that a person should be deemed completely immunised even if they will receive mix-and-match vaccinations. 

Individuals are regarded completely inoculated two weeks after receiving the second dosage of a two-dose series vaccination, like the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, or two weeks after receiving a single-dose vaccine, including Johnson & Johnson's shot. As per the new guidelines, the COVID-19 vaccines which are presently licensed or permitted for emergency usage by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. While AstraZeneca and Oxford vaccines were designated for emergency use by the World Health Organization.  

Meanwhile, The CDC does not promote vaccinations that have not been approved by the FDA, and it has not yet decided on formal standards for combining doses. According to the CDC, the new guideline on evaluating vaccine data has no bearing on CDC recommendations for primary series of immunisation and will not be used to guide clinical practice. 

COVID-19 rates are progressively declining throughout the US

The number of COVID-19 cases had gradually increased in the United States due to the transmission of the highly infectious delta strain. As per real-time statistics provided by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, over 722,000 Americans have perished due to the COVID-19 disease, while more than 4.8 million individuals have died globally. According to CDC data, only 66.5 per cent of Americans aged 12 and older are completely inoculated against COVID-19. 

Furthermore, Coronavirus rates are progressively declining throughout the nation, due to the enormous decreases in densely populated states like Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Starting from September 1, the total number of daily instances in the US has decreased by 50%, with a 43% decrease in hospitalizations and a 21% decline in daily fatalities.  

Yet, an increase in instances in Northern states, on the other hand, is generating some alarm. Coronavirus illnesses have been spreading throughout many states in the Upper Midwest and Northeast over the past weeks. Eight states have witnessed significant increases in their case averages which include Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Vermont. 

Alaska is still witnessing the highest infection rate in the US, joined by Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, West Virginia, and North Dakota, all of which had infection rates over 400 per 100,000 people. Nearly 113.5 million people in the United States are still unvaccinated. Sixty-two million of them persons are above the age of twelve. Whereas, children under the age of 12 make up the remaining 48 million unvaccinated persons. 

(Image: AP/ Pixabay/ Representative Image)