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Health officials in Alabama confirmed to ABC News that in the past two weeks, approximately 35,147 doses have been discarded -- accounting for more than half of the 65,000 doses that have gone unused in the state since the beginning of the year.

And in Mississippi, where the 35% vaccination rate is one of the lowest in the country, officials told ABC News that roughly 40,600 doses have expired so far.

Meanwhile, the CDC is encouraging vaccination among two more groups this week — pregnant women and immunocompromised Americans.

\"PHOTO:
Mario Tama/Getty Images
PHOTO: Louisiana Army National Guard soldiers operate a COVID-19 drive through testing site on Aug. 12, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
>

On Wednesday, the CDC announced new guidance that strongly urged pregnant women get vaccinated, based on more evidence that the vaccines are safe for mothers and their babies.

“We are strengthening our guidance and recommending that all pregnant people, or people thinking about becoming pregnant, get vaccinated. We now have new data that reaffirmed the safety of our vaccines for people who are pregnant, including those early in pregnancy and around the time of conception,” Walensky said Thursday.

She also pointed to new recommendations expected for people who didn’t have optimal responses to the first dose of their vaccines because of underlying health conditions, like cancer, HIV or organ transplants, and will soon be allowed to get a third dose of the mRNA vaccines, either Pfizer or Moderna.

\"FDA is working with Pfizer and Moderna to allow boosters for these vulnerable people. An additional dose could help increase protections for these individuals, which is especially important as the Delta variant spreads,\" Walensky said.

The FDA’s decision, which will be followed by a recommendation from the CDC on exactly who gets a third shot and how, will apply to about 3% of people, Walensky said.

The White House maintains that boosters are not yet needed for the general population, though they will eventually be necessary.

“Apart from the immunocompromised ... we do not believe that others, elderly or non-elderly, who are not immunocompromise, need [an additional] vaccine right at this moment,” Fauci said.

“But this is a dynamic process, and the data will be evaluated,” he said. “So, if the data shows us that, in fact, we do need to do that, we’ll be very ready to do it and do it expeditiously.”

ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos, Laura Romero, Soorin Kim, and Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.

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