The chief medical adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden is urging Americans to get vaccinated or a booster shot for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday as COVID-19 cases are climbing in the country.
"The data show that the cases are starting to go up, which is not unexpected when you get into a winter season and people start to go indoors more," Anthony Fauci told CNN's State of the Union on Sunday.
About 60 million people in the country who are eligible to be vaccinated have not been vaccinated, Fauci said.
The spread of the virus is not only "dangerous and makes people who are unvaccinated vulnerable, but it also spills over into the vaccinated people," said Fauci.
"And when you have a lot of virus circulating around, we know that there are breakthrough infections, and that's how you get the uptick in cases," he added.
Nationally, the seven-day average for COVID-19 cases is more than 90,000, according to data from The New York Times.
Over the past two weeks, cases have increased in 39 states and Washington D.C. and doubled in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Almost 196 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, and 32 million have received a booster dose, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Among adults aged 65 and older who are more at risk for severe illness, 86.2 percent are fully vaccinated and 38 percent have received a booster.
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