Countries with relatively high vaccination rates are pedaling back from preparations for a normal life and toughening quarantine controls due to the quick spread of the Delta variant.
The U.S. Biden administration’s promise -- to get 70 percent of Americans vaccinated against Covid-19 for “summer of freedom” – has hit a hiatus due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant and Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reversed its mask-wearing guidelines on Tuesday and urged people to keep wearing masks two months after relaxing related rules. When the CDC had eased masking guidelines, some worried it was too premature. However, the CDC maintained the relaxed masking rules, saying it would be a strong incentive to encourage vaccination.
However, new daily cases in the U.S., which used to fall to as low as 4,000 before, surged to 108,775 on Tuesday. It was the first time in five months that the number surpassed 100,000.
The U.S. vaccination rate is not going up fast enough.
According to statistics from Our World in Data, the proportion of the U.S. population with at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine only inched up from 53.6 percent to 56.5 percent in the past month. In addition, the easing of mask-wearing rules and incentives for vaccinated employees failed to persuade people who were reluctant to get a jab.
In a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released on July 13, 92 percent of people who said in January that they were willing to get a vaccine as soon as possible have already completed vaccination, but 76 percent of those reluctant to get a vaccine have yet to get one.
Voices are growing for mandating vaccination in the U.S. On Monday, over 60 medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association, called for mandatory vaccination of U.S. healthcare workers. On the same day, New York City announced that the city would require government workers to get inoculations mandatorily.
U.S. media, including Bloomberg, said President Joe Biden would announce vaccination requirements across the federal government on Thursday this week.
Other nations with more vaccinations had briefly relaxed viral control but recently reversed the course to tighter control due to the Delta variant spread.
In France, daily cases once slid to 2,000 but surged to over 20,000. As a result, the French authorities have strengthened disease control measures, allowing only the vaccinated to use public facilities.
In Italy, people are calling for lockdown again if Covid-19 infections do not diminish.
In France and Italy, 45.6 percent and 49.9 percent of the population have completed Covid-19 vaccination, respectively.
Australia, lauded for strong lockdown measures to contain the pandemic, extended Sidney lockdown by four weeks.
Israel is considering the third vaccination, despite a high 61.6 percent vaccination rate. The country introduced a vaccine green pass early this year, which accelerated vaccination at the fastest pace in the world. Israel started easing quarantine measures in the spring, and daily cases fell below 10 in June thanks to the high vaccination rate.
However, with the spread of the Delta variant, daily Covid-19 cases spiked to 2,164 on Tuesday. It was the first time in four months that the figure exceeded the 2,000-mark.
Experts attributed the resurgence of Covid-19 cases to vaccines’ lowered effectiveness over time. The Israeli health authorities investigated infection cases from June 20 to July 17 and found that Covid-19 vaccines were only 39 percent effective. The figure is a large drop from 64 percent reported previously.
On Monday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel could soon approve a third Covid-19 booster shot.