More Americans Have Been Vaccinated Than Infected By COVID-19

In better news regarding the fight against COVID-19, a new report shows that there are now more Americans who have received the vaccine, than Americans who have been infected.

According to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, 26.5 million people in the U.S. have received the first or both doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine. This number surpasses the 26.3 million people who have contracted the virus since the pandemic struck.

“It’s worth noting that today, for the first time, the data said that more people were vaccinated than were reported as newly diagnosed cases,” Paula Cannon, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, told Bloomberg. “That’s worth celebrating. I’m all for that win.”

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The U.S. has been administering the vaccine faster than any other country. While these numbers sound hopeful, there is still a lot that needs to be done to end the pandemic. In order to achieve herd immunity, at least 70% of the U.S. population needs to have the vaccine. The percentage of people who have the vaccine in the U.S. currently stands at 1.8%.

However, there are new developments in the vaccine. Johnson and Johnson’s recently stated that their single-shot vaccine has proved to be 66% protective against COVID-19. While this number might seem low in comparison to Pfizer and Moderna’s 94-95%, Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine is 85% effective in protecting against severe disease.

“While these trends are encouraging, I want to stress that the numbers nationally are still high, and they’re as high as they’ve been at any point in the pandemic up to this point,” CDC deputy director Jay Butler said during a briefing on Friday that was hosted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “If this pandemic were a stock, we might be wanting to sell.”