As newly reported Covid-19 cases in the United States drop to some of the lowest levels of the pandemic, the link between vaccinations and transmission is getting clearer, exposing pockets of at-risk populations, but also a safer path forward.

A CNN analysis found that states that have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents tend to have lower-than-average case rates that are trending down, while states that have vaccinated less than half of their residents had higher average case rates.
Each of the states that saw an increase in cases over the past seven days compared to the week before has fully vaccinated less than half of their residents, and most have vaccinated less than 40% of residents.
The US recorded about 25 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Among states that have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents, the average case rate was about 24% lower, at about 20 cases per 100,000 people. But among states that have vaccinated less than 35% of their residents, the average was about 41 new cases per 100,000 people -- about 1.6 times higher than the US rate and more than double the average rate among states that have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents.

Dr Peter Hotez, director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, said on CNN's New Day Tuesday that he thinks "anyone who's unvaccinated right now is a very, very high risk," especially as the Delta variant continues to grow in prominence in the US.

He said it's "crunch time" to push vaccination rates up to avoid another wave in the coming months.

There are exceptions to this trend, which experts say are to be expected in this phase of the pandemic.
Washington, for example, is one of 11 states that has fully vaccinated more than half of its residents, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the state also recorded among the 10 highest case rates over the past week, JHU data shows.

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https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/16/health/covid-cases-vaccinations-trends-analysis/index.html