CDC leader: US in ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’

WASHINGTON – The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. is becoming "a pandemic of the unvaccinated."

Speaking during a White House briefing, Dr. Rochelle Walensky says cases in the U.S. are up about 70% over the last week, hospital admissions are up 36% and deaths rose by 26%. Nearly all hospital admissions and deaths, she says, are among the unvaccinated.

White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients echoed the pandemic is "one that predominantly threatens unvaccinated people."

He says the Biden administration expects cases to increase in the weeks ahead because of spread in communities with low vaccination rates. Four states accounted for 40% of new cases last week, with one in five coming from Florida.

But Zients says there are signs that increased cases are driving more people in those communities to seek vaccination at rates faster than the national average.