President Biden grappling with ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’

Despite the face mask signage, a passenger boards the Metro C Line, in Los Angeles without one. Pic/AFP

Two weeks after celebrating America's near "independence" from the Coronavirus, President Joe Biden is confronting the worrying reality of rising cases and deaths - and the limitations of his ability to combat the persistent vaccine hesitancy responsible for the summer backslide.

Cases of Covid-19 have tripled over the past three weeks, and hospitalisations and deaths are rising among unvaccinated people. While the rates are still sharply down from their January highs, officials are concerned by the reversing trendlines and what they consider needless illness and death. And cases are expected to continue to rise in the coming weeks.

While the national emergency may have faded, officials say the outbreak is now a more localised crisis in communities where not enough people have rolled up their sleeves.

"Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated," Biden said, echoing comments made earlier by Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Four states with low vaccination rates made up 40 per cent of new cases last week, and nearly half of them came from Florida alone.

Many Americans remain resistant or unmotivated to get shots, despite months of often-creative efforts by federal and state officials and the private sector to spread information about vaccine safety.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy added that while government can play an important role, "this has got to be an ‘all of the above' strategy with everybody in," including employers, technology companies and individuals. More than 99 per cent of Covid-19 deaths and 97 per cent of hospitalisations are among people who have not been vaccinated, according to the CDC.

WHO eyes China lab audit

In a closed-door briefing to member states, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus proposed "audits of relevant laboratories and research institutions operating in the area of the initial human cases identified in December 2019".

19,04,49,107
TOTAL Number OF CORONAVIRUS

CASES IN THE WORLD

40,94,751
Number OF DEATHS WORLDWIDE

17,36,12,641
Number OF RECOVERED PATIENTS

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