Daily US Times: A highly contagious coronavirus variant first detected in the United Kingdom could become the dominant strain in the United States by March, health officials have said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned of “rapid growth” of the coronavirus variant in coming weeks.
It said such a spike could further threaten health systems already strained by a winter Covid-19 surge.
The warning came on Friday as Joe Biden, who is about to take oath to the Oval office, unveiled an ambitious plan to ramp up vaccinations.
To meet his target of inoculating 100 million Americans within his first 100 days in the White House, Mr Biden said his administration would take a more active role in stepping up the vaccine distribution.
He outlined a plan to hire extra health workers, set up new mass vaccination centres and ensure the shot is available to everyone, including minority communities that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus epidemic.
Official data shows that, so far, 12.2 million vaccine doses of have been administered in the country – a figure President-elect Joe Biden has criticised as insufficient. More than 30 million doses have been distributed to states.
Mr Biden said In a speech on Friday that Americans that “we remain in a very dark winter”, admitting that “things will get worse before they get better”.
“This is going to be one of the most challenging operational efforts ever undertaken by our country,” Mr Biden said of the vaccination drive.
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