The Vaccination Campaign

Total People Fully Vaccinated (two doses of Moderna or Pfizer or one dose of Johnson & Johnson) Massachusetts: 4,938,005 (up 54,844 from Thursday) Rhode Island: 776,060 (up 8,508 from Thursday) Reported changes from the last issue of this newsletter. View all vaccine news and numbers on Globe.com Top Stories: Vaccinations Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced plans on Monday to expand citywide access to vaccines by bolstering high-capacity and school-based clinics. About 200 UMass Memorial Health employees have been fired for not getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Local Impact Massachusetts: 885,548 cases (up 20,098 from Thursday)  ·  19,151 deaths (up 104 from Thursday)  ·  1,151 hospitalizations (up 162 from Thursday) Rhode Island: 198,036 cases (up 4,322 from Thursday)  ·  2,949 deaths (up 10 from Thursday)  ·  203 hospitalizations (up 33 from Thursday) Reported increases or decreases from the last issue of this newsletter. Sources: Massachusetts Department of Public Health Rhode Island Department of Health View all COVID-19 news and numbers on Globe.com Top Stories: COVID-19 Impact Boston-area scientists are racing to sequence the Omicron variant before it spreads too far too fast. The coronavirus traces found in Boston-area wastewater has risen significantly in recent days. A model from the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects that COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts will continue to rise by about another third by the end of January. Boston health officials plan to hand out 20,000 free rapid antigen tests and masks to neighborhoods with the highest rates of COVID-19.     Across the US and Around the World US 473,243,228 vaccinations 49,344,743 cases 790,555 deaths Sources: Johns Hopkins Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Most and Least Vaccinated US States (% of population fully vaccinated) Top Ranked Vermont (74.2%) Rhode Island (73.9%) Maine (73.3%) Connecticut (72.9%) Massachusetts (72.3%) Bottom Ranked Idaho (45.5%) Wyoming (46.2%) Alabama (46.6%) Mississippi (47.4%) West Virginia (49.2%) Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Worldwide  8,246,563,168 vaccinations 266,944,804 cases 5,268,667 deaths Source: Johns Hopkins  Top Stories: US and Worldwide New York City private employers will be required to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations among their employees.     What's Next The battle of the variants: One of the biggest questions public health experts have about the Omicron variant is how it will perform when it comes face-to-face with a raging Delta outbreak. A Waltham biotech is designing a way to fight all coronavirus variants.