custody. and as the push to charge an alleged grocery store gunman with a hate crime grows, buffalo begins reflecting on the lives lost in that deadly mass shooting. and we begin in seoul, south korea, where right now joe biden is holding talks with his newly inaugurated south korean counterpart on his debut trip to asia as u.s. president. now, earlier mr. biden participated in a wreath laying ceremony at the national saerm. he wore white gloves in a show of respect to the koreans who died to protect hir country. mr. biden is now at the korean ministry of national defense for his meeting. we re expecting them to give remarks some time this hour. on friday the president said the region will prove to be critical in the years and decades to come. we re standing at an inflection point in history where decisions we make today will have far reaching impacts on the world we leave to our children tomorrow. on the agenda mr. biden s meeting with south korea s leader is of course
nestle formula from europe to the united states. meantime the second largest infant formula maker in the united states says it has increased manufacturing now by 35%. this, of course, is in response to a recall by the top manufacturer in the u.s., abbott nutrition, and that happened back in february. officials say this was the catalyst for the baby formula crisis. some troubling news from the white house covid czar. dr. hasheesh jha says he believes covid cases are being substantially undercounted due to home tests. that means cases could be even higher than the more than 100,000 average daily cases recorded by john hopkins university. infections have more than doubled in the past month and are trending up in all but three states. recent data from the cdc shows people who are unvaccinate vd a risk of dying from covid 17 times higher than those fully vaccinated with a booster.
getting all their ducks in a row for vaccinating some of the nation s youngest children. their three-point plan aiming to prepare in advance a supply of doses and vaccination sites ahead of the expected emergency use authorization for the pfizer vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11. the surgeon general this morning speaking to today s savannah guthrie explaining why the white house is in such a hurry. the bottom line is we have to be prepared to ensure we can get vaccines to families as soon as the fda and the cdc issue their decision. and that preparation takes planning, takes time. and that s why we ve been working very hard to do a few things over the last several weeks and months. number one, make sure we have enough supply for every child through the 5 to 11 range. i want to bring in now heidi prez bola and the dean of public health dr. hasheesh jha. what s the crux of this plan to
really help people make a decision that s safe for their family. so, garret, she also said the younger the child there tends to be more of a conversation necessary between doctor and parent. she says she s hopeful. but this is really the first time we ve seen this level of coordination between the federal government, health systems, pediatricians and also local grassroots groups she s frankly very enthusiastic about. let s bring in dr. jha here now. doc, same basic question to you. you hear all the time about the peoples trust or lack thereof in the doctors of fauci and the politicians who talk to them about vaccines. but people trust their own doctors and they trust their kids pediatricians. how important will those individual doctors, those local connections be in getting these new shots into the arms of the youngest potential patients here? yeah, i think it s going to be enormously important.
today the number of coronavirus cases thin u.s. reached a six-month high. the average daily cases are now nearly five times what they were just one month ago. half of all new covid cases and hospitalizations this past week come from seven states, florida, texas, missouri, arkansas, louisiana, alabama and mississippi. those seven states also happen to be the seven states with the lowest vaccination rate. see a pattern, folks? meanwhile the biden administration st. reportedly developing a plan to require proof of vaccination for all foreign visitors traveling into the u.s. and just tonight the washington post is reporting that the administration is considering withholding federal funding from certain institutions in an effort to spur more vaccinations. as vaccine mandates become a reality of daily life in places where vaccination rates are already high, what can be done to slow the spread of the deadly virus in the rest of places in our country? to help us answer that question one of o