<Anchor> In the
United States, there are people who say that even if there is a vaccine, there are people who will not get it, so the adult vaccination rate is hardly rising from around 70%. In this situation, as the number of confirmed cases increases due to the spread of the delta mutation, New York City and California have taken special measures to make it mandatory for public officials to vaccinate.
Correspondent Kim Jong-won from New York.
<Reporter>
New York City has a higher vaccination rate than other regions with an adult vaccination rate of 65%.
However, with the recent increase in the number of coronavirus cases, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has taken special measures.
From teachers, police and firefighters to office workers, it mandated vaccination of 340,000 New York City officials.
[Bill De Blasio/New York Mayor: This is a move for recovery. This is a move to get New York City back to normal. This is a measure to keep citizens safe.] As
a measure to prepare for the start of the new school year in September, it is said that the vaccine must be received by the 13th of the following month, or the corona test must be performed once a week.
At the same time, it has been made compulsory for public officials to wear masks again.
[Bill De Blasio / Mayor of New York: Unfortunately, I plan to push the quarantine guidelines very strongly in the future. If unvaccinated city officials don't wear masks indoors, they'll pay the price.] The
state of California has taken the same action against about 250,000 state employees.
[Gavin Newsom/Governor of California: I am very tired of politicizing the corona crisis. He even compared the wearing of masks to the Holocaust. This is very offensive and unconstitutional.]
Meanwhile, Pfizer and Moderna have agreed to increase vaccine trials in children ages 5 to 11 at the request of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Pfizer plans to apply to U.S. health authorities for emergency use of the vaccine for children 5 years and older by the end of September.