The Vaccination Campaign

The Local Vaccination Campaign Total People Fully Vaccinated (two doses of Moderna or Pfizer or one dose of Johnson & Johnson) Massachusetts: 5,357,527 (up 7,673 from Thursday) Rhode Island: 868,511 (up 1,797 from Thurday) Reported changes from the last issue of this newsletter. View all vaccine news and numbers on Globe.com Top Stories: Vaccinations Maine Governor Janet Mills, who is fully-vaccinated and received two boosters, tested positive for COVID-19 today. Scientists are just beginning to study the new Omicron mutant BA.2.12.1, a descendent of “stealth Omicron,” to find out whether it is better at evading vaccines' protections than previous strains of the virus. Promises from wealthy nations, including the United States, to provide vaccines to poorer nations are falling short, as many countries continue to see vaccination rates as low as 15 percent.

 

 

 

 

The Local Impact Massachusetts:  1,614,807 cases (up 16,266 from Thursday)  ·  19,129 deaths (up 31 from Thursday)  ·  431 hospitalizations (up 46 from Thursday) Rhode Island:  370,920 cases (up 3,018 from Thursday)  ·  3,538 deaths (up 6 from Thursday)  · 66 hospitalizations (up 3 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 According to the CDC, more than half of the people in Massachusetts have had COVID at least once since the pandemic began, with many of the infections caused by the Omicron surge earlier this year. Despite a return to in-person instruction, and masks off in most classrooms, teachers are struggling to help their students, whose mental health has been negatively impacted by the pandemic. Levels of COVID in Boston's waste water are continuing to decrease after steadily increasing for most of April.

 

 

Across the US and Around the World US 574,738,978 vaccinations 81,242,974 cases 993,140 deaths Sources: Johns Hopkins Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Most and Least Vaccinated US States (% of population fully vaccinated) Top Ranked Rhode Island (82.4 percent) Vermont (81.1 percent) Maine (79.5 percent) Connecticut (79.1 percent) Massachusetts (78.9 percent) Bottom Ranked Alabama (51.1 percent) Wyoming (51.5 percent) Mississippi (51.8 percent) Louisiana (53.5 percent) Idaho (54 percent) Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Worldwide  11,321,492,823 vaccinations 512,181,038 cases 6,230,766 deaths Source: Johns Hopkins  Top Stories: US and Worldwide Experts pushed back on comments that the US was “out of the full-blown, explosive pandemic phase,” from Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has often been a source of information, reassurance, and warning during the pandemic. Although initially in limited supply, the anti-viral pill Paxlovid is now more widely available, and the Biden administration is taking steps to increase access to it for qualifying patients with COVID-19.  Officials in Beijing have instituted mass testing and locked down some neighborhoods in an effort to curb a recent COVID outbreak.