Half of adults in nation have at least a dose

Fauci urges trusted figures to help sway the skeptical

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Tuesday, April 13, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Tuesday, April 13, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

WASHINGTON -- Half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one covid-19 shot, the government announced Sunday, marking another milestone in the nation's largest-ever vaccination campaign but leaving more work to do to persuade skeptical Americans to roll up their sleeves.

Almost 130 million people 18 or older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, or 50.4% of the total adult population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Almost 84 million adults, or about 32.5% of the population, have been fully vaccinated.

The U.S. cleared the 50% mark just a day after the reported global death toll from the coronavirus topped 3 million, according to totals compiled by Johns Hopkins University, though the actual number is believed to be significantly higher.

The country's vaccination rate, at 61.6 doses administered per 100 people, currently falls behind Israel, which leads among countries with at least 5 million people with a rate of 119.2. The U.S. also trails the United Arab Emirates, Chile and the United Kingdom, which is vaccinating at a rate of 62 doses per 100 people, according to Our World in Data, an online research site.

The vaccine campaign offered hope in places like Nashville, Tenn., where the Music City Center bustled with vaccine seekers Sunday. High demand for appointment-only shots at the convention center has leveled off enough that walk-ins will be welcome starting this week.

Amanda Grimsley, who received her second shot, said she's ready to see her 96-year-old grandmother, who lives in Alabama and has been nervous about getting the vaccine after having a bad reaction to a flu shot.

"It's a little emotional. I haven't been able to see my grandmother in a year and a half almost," said Grimsley, 35. "And that's the longest my entire family has ever gone without seeing her. And we'll be seeing her in mid-May now."

The states with the highest vaccination rates have a history of voting Democratic and supporting President Joe Biden in the 2020 election: New Hampshire at the top, with 71.1%, followed by New Mexico, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine, CDC data show.

The demand has not been the same in many areas of Tennessee -- particularly rural ones.

Tennessee sits in the bottom four states for the rate of adults getting at least one shot, at 40.8%. It's trailed only by Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi -- three other Southern states that lean Republican and voted for Donald Trump last fall.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said the goal is to get community figures, from athletes to clergy, to encourage vaccinations, particularly as the seven-day national average of cases remains above 60,000 new infections per day.

"What we are doing is we're trying to get, by a community core, trusted messages that anyone would feel comfortable with listening to -- whether you're a Republican, a Democrat, an independent or whomever you are, that you're comfortable," Fauci said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

J&J DECISION COMING

Fauci also indicated Sunday that the government will probably move to resume use of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine this week, possibly with restrictions or broader warnings after reports of some rare blood clot cases.

In a series of news-show interviews, Fauci said he expects a decision when advisers to the CDC meet Friday to discuss the pause in J&J's single-dose vaccine.

"I would be very surprised if we don't have a resumption in some form by Friday," he said. "I don't really anticipate that they're going to want it stretch it out a bit longer."

He added, "I doubt very seriously if they just cancel" the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Fauci, who is Biden's chief medical adviser, said he believed federal regulators could bring the shots back with limits based on age or gender, or with a blanket warning, so the vaccine is administered "a little bit different than we were before the pause."

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was thrown into limbo after the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration said last week that they needed more evidence to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were linked to the shot -- and if so, how big the risk is.

There have been six reported cases out of more than 7 million U.S. inoculations with the J&J vaccine. The clots were found in women between 18 and 48, raising questions about whether the syndrome primarily affects females or young people generally. One woman died.

Authorities stressed that they have found no sign of clot problems with the most widely used vaccines in the U.S. -- from Moderna and Pfizer.

On Thursday, public health officials concluded a meeting on the vaccine without a vote. Advisers to the CDC said they lacked adequate information to make recommendations. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is set to resume Friday, according to Rochelle Walensky, the agency's director.

On Thursday, though, the head of the CDC panel that's expected to make a recommendation said more data is needed and that it was possible the pause could last for several weeks.

"If we make a wrong decision about this, it will impact our credibility and credibility of the vaccine safety system," Jose Romero, chairman of the committee, told Bloomberg News in an interview. "So it's very important that we get this right."

"I do think that there will likely be some sort of warning or restriction or risk assessment," Fauci said on NBC.

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South Africa's health regulator asked its government Saturday to lift a pause on the Johnson & Johnson shots provided certain conditions are met.

Fauci also said officials would determine soon -- likely by the end of summer -- whether people who've been vaccinated against covid may need to get booster shots or new vaccines aimed at emerging strains.

Officials with Moderna and Pfizer have indicated that a booster dose may be required, or that the vaccines may become annual events like flu shots, but Fauci on NBC said that such a call would be a "public health decision."

"It's not going to be a decision that's going to be made by a pharmaceutical company," he said. "We're partners with them because they're supplying it. It'll be an FDA-CDC decision."

On CNN, Fauci added that the U.S. will be prepared for coronavirus variants "either by boosting with the current vaccine or boosting with a variant-specific vaccine."

MICHIGAN STRUGGLES

Meanwhile, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that the recent surge in coronavirus cases that has made the state a national outlier is partly the result of a Michigan Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key law she has used to fight the pandemic.

It was a departure from statements Whitmer made immediately following the October ruling, when she said she mostly retained powers related to public health measures but would require legislative approval for other measures, such as extending unemployment insurance benefits and allowing local governments to hold their public meetings remotely. Also, Whitmer in recent months has eased coronavirus restrictions voluntarily -- not in response to court rulings -- despite rising case numbers and concerns about variants that are not only more contagious but in some cases more deadly.

Whitmer on Sunday did say Michigan still has "strong measures to keep people safe," including a mask requirement, and is "still doing what we can." She also cited the success Michigan had early on when she imposed strict measures on business and other activities, which she said resulted in "vast reservoirs of people who don't have antibodies," who are susceptible to highly contagious variants now circulating.

On Sunday's "Meet the Press, " Fauci said the Biden administration was not sending more vaccines to Michigan, as Whitmer has requested, because when a state is in the middle of a surge, "the best thing to do is try to contain it," and "really to shut down things much more so."

CDC officials have made similar statements, urging Whitmer to impose additional restrictions.

Whitmer, in resisting calls to impose new restrictions, has until now mostly cited her strategy of combating the surge by massively increasing vaccinations and urging, but not ordering, people to wear masks, observe social distancing and take other measures to prevent virus spread. Under a Whitmer directive, all Michigan residents 16 and older are eligible to be vaccinated.

Whitmer has pointed not to a lack of the necessary powers but to fatigue among Michigan residents with her use of those powers and concerns about compliance.

"I am working with a smaller amount of tools at my disposal," Whitmer said on NBC. "At the end of the day, this is going to come down to whether or not everyone does their part."

In early October, the Michigan Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional the Emergency Powers of Governor Act of 1945, following a lawsuit brought by the GOP-controlled Legislature. The law was the main tool Whitmer had used to issue emergency orders to address the pandemic.

Her administration immediately issued new orders under the Public Health Code -- a separate state law unaffected by the court ruling -- which replicated mask requirements, restrictions on gathering sizes and restaurant capacity, which were among the main features of the controls in place at that time.

"I will continue to use every tool at my disposal to protect the people of Michigan from the spread of covid-19," Whitmer said Oct. 22 after the court's ruling.

In November, with case numbers rising in Michigan and around the country, Whitmer used those powers to impose a temporary ban on indoor dining, indoor contact sports, in-person high school classes and any operations at venues such as movie theaters or bowling alleys.

In mid-January, Whitmer announced that indoor fitness classes and noncontact sports could resume, and on Jan. 22, she announced that indoor dining could resume Feb. 1, at 25% capacity and with a 10 p.m. curfew.

And in early February, after it was known that the highly contagious variants were circulating in Michigan, but with case numbers declining for close to a month, Whitmer announced she was lifting the moratorium on indoor contact sports, amid pressure from Republicans and advocates for high school sports. Despite strict testing requirements, those sports have since been linked to many outbreaks.

In early March, Whitmer further eased indoor dining restrictions, allowing 50% capacity, as well as allowing increased traffic at retail stores and larger private gatherings. That order came despite a recent increase in Michigan's weekly case numbers and growing concerns about variants.

Information for this article was contributed by Hope Yen and Jonathan Mattise of The Associated Press; by Ros Krasny of Bloomberg News (TNS); and by Paul Egan of the Detroit Free Press (TNS).

FILE - In this March 3, 2021, file photo, Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is held by pharmacist Madeline Acquilano at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Conn. U.S. health officials are weighing next steps as they investigate unusual blood clots in a small number of people given the vaccine -- a one-dose shot that many countries hoped would help speed protection against the pandemic.  (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
FILE - In this March 3, 2021, file photo, Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is held by pharmacist Madeline Acquilano at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Conn. U.S. health officials are weighing next steps as they investigate unusual blood clots in a small number of people given the vaccine -- a one-dose shot that many countries hoped would help speed protection against the pandemic. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
FILE - In this March 6, 2021, file photo, boxes stand next vials of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in the pharmacy of National Jewish Hospital for distribution in Denver. U.S. health officials are weighing next steps as they investigate unusual blood clots in a small number of people given the vaccine -- a one-dose shot that many countries hoped would help speed protection against the pandemic. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
FILE - In this March 6, 2021, file photo, boxes stand next vials of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in the pharmacy of National Jewish Hospital for distribution in Denver. U.S. health officials are weighing next steps as they investigate unusual blood clots in a small number of people given the vaccine -- a one-dose shot that many countries hoped would help speed protection against the pandemic. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
Amanda Grimsley leaves the Music City Center in Nashville, Tenn., after receiving her second COVID-19 vaccine dose there on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Grimsley said she’s ready now after her vaccination to see her 96-year-old grandmother, who lives in Alabama and has been nervous about getting the vaccine after having a bad reaction to a flu shot. (AP Photo/Jonathan Mattise)
Amanda Grimsley leaves the Music City Center in Nashville, Tenn., after receiving her second COVID-19 vaccine dose there on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Grimsley said she’s ready now after her vaccination to see her 96-year-old grandmother, who lives in Alabama and has been nervous about getting the vaccine after having a bad reaction to a flu shot. (AP Photo/Jonathan Mattise)

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