The country continued this week on a path to reopening from the Covid-19 pandemic, with major population centers such as New York and California pulling back on restrictions following increased vaccinations and lowered infections.

Yet with overall vaccination rates in the US slowing this month when compared to highs in April, health officials are raising awareness about the uneven distribution of vaccines in different parts of the country.
"I'm very unconcerned for people who have been vaccinated, and I'm more concerned for people who have not been vaccinated and the communities that are largely unvaccinated," Andy Slavitt, former White House senior adviser for the Biden administration's Covid-19 response, told CNN's Don Lemon on Wednesday.
Slavitt, who earlier described the Delta variant, or B.1.617.2, as "Covid on steroids," noted people who are in high vaccination areas are likely to know others likeminded about inoculations, and places with few vaccinations are more susceptible to clusters of Covid-19 infections.
"In those communities, a Covid that spreads twice as fast is not a good thing," Slavitt said.
The Delta variant, a form of Covid-19 first identified in India, has increased to approximately 10% of coronavirus cases in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The strain has been listed by the CDC as a "variant of concern," meaning scientists believe it is more transmittable and can cause more severe disease.
Recent studies demonstrated the effectiveness of vaccines against variants such as Delta, with many in the health community urging to Americans that the best way to defend against Covid-19 is preemptive vaccination and immunization.
"It's one more reason for people to take this seriously and say, 'Wow, we've got great vaccines, we're so lucky to have them, maybe I should take one or two,'" Slavitt said.