Coronavirus vaccine and COVID variant updates for 02-16-2022

This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for February 16th, 2022.

The head of the World Health Organization's Europe office said their attention is turning to growing rates of infection in Eastern Europe, where six countries — including Russia and Ukraine — have seen a doubling of cases over the last two weeks. The concern is that vaccination rates have lagged in Eastern Europe.

In the United States, it doesn’t look like people are buying into the need for a booster. The pace of people getting booster shots has dropped to the lowest it’s ever been. Of the 64% of the US that’s fully vaccinated, only 28% have gone on to get a booster. People who got the one dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine are especially slow to get a second dose.

Part of that may be because of the performance of the first rounds of vaccines. The CDC released data from a study showing the efficacy rate of mRNA vaccines waned after as soon as four months. However, it was quickly pointed out that the vaccines were key in reducing serious illness and death, and that the data only underscores the need for a booster shot.

As health experts try to get kids vaccinated at younger and younger ages, how about unborn fetuses? Turns out if mom got a dose, then the baby did too. New research shows babies whose mothers were fully vaccinated with Moderna or Pfizer during pregnancy had a 61% lower risk of being hospitalized with COVID in their first six months of life.

Whether the pandemic is over or not, the government spending machine clearly is not. The White House is telling Congress it needs $30 billion more dollars of taxpayer money to keep fighting COVID. Congress has already approved $5.8 trillion to battle the pandemic in a series of major bills across the last two administrations, and it’s estimated 90% of that money has been spent.

In the United States, cases were down 66%, deaths are down 6%, and hospitalizations are down 36% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since January 14.

The five states that had the most daily deaths per 100,000 are Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, Virginia, and Delaware.

There are 28,114,769 active cases in the United States.

The top 10 areas with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Nome Census Area, AK. Scott, TN. Unicoi, TN. Attala, MS. Big Horn, MT. Overton, TN. Perry, KY. Floyd, KY. McNairy, TN. And Cannon, TN.

There have been 925,438 deaths in the U.S. recorded as COVID-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Rhode Island and Vermont at 79.9%, and Maine at 78%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Alabama at 49.9%, Wyoming at 50.3%, and Mississippi at 50.5%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 64.4%.

Globally, cases were down 32% and deaths up 11% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since January 25.

There are 71,379,697 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: Germany 177,515. Russia 166,631. France 142,253. Brazil 123,827. And the United States 94,818.

There have been 5,836,409 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.

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