[앵커]
The cumulative number of corona19 confirmed cases in the U.S. has exceeded 25 million. It is a quarter of the world’s infected with nearly 100 million people. As the number of new confirmed cases has fallen below 200,000 on average per day since last week, the spread has been somewhat slowed down, but the problem is the lack of vaccine supply. US health officials have decided to increase the number of shots of the Pfizer vaccine, which had been given five shots per bottle, six more times. In order to get a limited amount of vaccine to more people, we literally squeeze the vaccine.
Correspondent Lim Jong-ju in Washington reports.
[기자]
It is only one year since the first patient was released on January 20 last year that the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the United States exceeded 25 million.
About 1 in 13 Americans are infected, making up a quarter of all confirmed cases worldwide.
The death toll also exceeded 400,000.
However, the number of new confirmed cases fell to an average of 175,000 per day last week.
It is the first time since the winter pandemic has fallen below 200,000.
It looks like the spread has braked, but it’s still a lot.
[미국 cbs 뉴스 : 전국적으로 백신 접종 경쟁이 벌어지고 있습니다. 확진자는 계속 늘어나고 있습니다. 거의 2000만 명이 최소 한 차례 백신을 맞았습니다.]
All of the vaccines distributed in the United States are capable of 40 million doses.
However, only about half of them were inoculated.
[마이클 오스터홀름/미국 미네소타대 감염병 연구·정책센터장 : 백신이 언제 얼마나 올지 알 수가 없습니다. 저도 접종 자격이 있지만, 하나라도 볼 수가 없습니다.]
Health authorities have approved the use of special syringes to expand vaccinations.
By adjusting the amount of extraction with a syringe, the amount of inoculation for a bottle of Pfizer vaccine will be increased from 5 times to 6 times.
Following Pfizer and Modena, the possibility of approval for early emergency use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is also being discussed.
There is growing concern that if vaccination fails to speed up, the mutant virus will trigger a new pandemic sooner.