ANALYSIS: Five undervaccinated clusters put the entire United States at risk

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Thu, 2021-07-08 09:49 — mike kraft

Five undervaccinated clusters put the entire United States at risk A new data analysis identifies clusters of unvaccinated people, most of them in the southern United States, that are vulnerable to surges in Covid-19 cases and could become breeding grounds for even more deadly Covid-19 variants. Elizabeth Cohen and John Bonifield, CNN CNN

(CNN) A new data analysis identifies clusters of unvaccinated people, most of them in the southern United States, that are vulnerable to surges in Covid-19 cases and could become breeding grounds for even more deadly Covid-19 variants.

The analysis by researchers at Georgetown University identified 30 clusters of counties with low vaccination rates and significant population sizes. The five most significant of those clusters are sprawled across large swaths of the southeastern United States and a smaller portion in the Midwest.

The five clusters are largely in parts of eight states, starting in the east in Georgia and stretching west to Texas and north to southern Missouri. The clusters also include parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee, and are made up of mostly smaller counties but also cities such as Montgomery, Alabama; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Amarillo, Texas.

Most of these states are currently seeing increases in Covid-19 cases.

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"Parts of the country are just as vulnerable if not more vulnerable than they were in December, 2020," said Shweta Bansal, an associate professor of biology at Georgetown University. Bansal heads up the US COVID-19 Vaccination Tracking project, which has been gathering data on the US vaccine rollout since it began in December.

Those vulnerable clusters put all of the United States -- and to some extent, the world -- at risk for going back to 2020, since high-transmission areas can become breeding grounds for Covid-19 variants that could go on to evade Covid-19 vaccines.

"These clusters of unvaccinated people are what is standing in the way of us putting this virus down permanently," said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a CNN medical analyst and professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University.

About one-third of Americans have not received even a single Covid-19 shot -- and the Georgetown analysis shows that these people are not evenly spread around the United States.

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