US steps up jabs push as Delta spreads

US President Joe Biden announced new initiatives on Tuesday to get more people vaccinated as inoculation numbers continue to slow down across the country and the Delta variant spreads across the unvaccinated population.

Biden said the highly transmissible Delta variant, which was first detected in India, is already responsible for half of all cases in many parts of the country.

"Millions of Americans are still unvaccinated and unprotected. And because of that, their communities are at risk. Their friends are at risk, the people they care about are at risk," Biden said. "This is an even bigger concern because of the Delta variant."

The new initiatives are focused on providing easier access to one-third of the eligible US population that has not gotten any COVID-19 vaccine shots.

By the end of this week, the United States is expected to have fully vaccinated 160 million of its citizens－more than 55 percent of the eligible population.

The Biden administration came up a little short in its goal to have 70 percent of US adults at least partially vaccinated by Sunday－the current figure stands at 67 percent.

Spikes in cases

New initiatives to encourage vaccinations include door-to-door outreach, sending vaccines to healthcare providers and pediatricians who can encourage adolescents to get vaccinations, wider availability at pharmacies, expanding mobile clinics and vaccination sites at workplaces, and securing paid time off for employees to get vaccinated.

The more easily transmittable Delta variant is becoming dominant in many countries and may cause more severe diseases, especially among younger people.

According to an analysis of Johns Hopkins University data by USA Today, COVID-19 cases were up in nearly half of US states. Cases in Alaska and Arkansas more than doubled in the last week. In South Carolina and Kansas, case numbers are up more than 50 percent.

Parts of the South, Southwest and Midwest are starting to see spikes in cases, with many of those states having the lowest vaccination rates, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These states include Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

CDC data also shows that recent average COVID-19 case rates are three times higher in states that have vaccinated a smaller share of their residents than the US overall.