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Dr. Ashish Jha, Coordinator for WhiteHouse COVID-19, urged Americans to review vaccination status and be shot if possible as breakthrough infections continue to increase nationwide.
“We are seeing a high level of reinfection,” Jha said in a pre-recorded interview aired “this week” on ABC. “We see people who do not have the latest information on vaccines suffering from many groundbreaking infections.”
Jha emphasized that he provided vaccines to Americans and developed tools and infrastructure to minimize the effects of infection.
“Protection from serious illness is still maintained, which is good news,” he explained. “But there is still some protection against infection, but not so much. This is the antigenic nature of the virus.”
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“We must continue to make a new generation of vaccines,” Jha insisted. “You need to make sure you’re getting the right treatment. You can get over this, but you can’t take your eyes off the ball.”
“We really have to stay focused,” he continued. “And we continue to focus on managing this.”
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He continued to encourage Americans to get booster shots if they didn’t receive them this year.
According to the World Health Organization, COVID-19 is increasing in 110 countries, with BA.4 and BA.5 showing a total surge of 20%.
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Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 88 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus, and the virus has killed more than one million people.
Julia Musto of Fox News contributed to this report.