WASHINGTON - Hospitals across the United States are facing oxygen shortages as they mainly handle unvaccinated patients, CNN reported on Wednesday.

And another 100,000 people could die from COVID-19 by December this year, said the report, citing a recent University of Washington model forecast.

This forecast was terrifying, but could be prevented if more Americans get vaccinated, Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was quoted as saying.

About 80 million eligible Americans had still not been vaccinated, Fauci said on Sunday. And officials were urging these unvaccinated people to refrain from traveling during the US Labor Day.

Stressing the Delta variant can hit any age group, CNN said that children were increasingly at risk and more children in the United States were hospitalized with COVID-19 last month than previous months this year.