FILE PHOTO: A nurse vaccinates a health worker against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Harare, Zimbabwe, February 18, 2021. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo

Politics

70% of 30+ Americans partially vaccinated, Biden to miss vaccine goal

Jun 22, 2021

By Straight Arrow News

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 70% of Americans age 30 or older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the White House said, even as President Joe Biden is set to fall short of reaching his goal of giving a shot to the same percentage of all American adults by Independence Day.

The Biden administration is releasing the new data Tuesday showing it expects to reach 70% of Americans age 27 or older with at least one shot by the July 4 holiday. A White House official said it is now redoubling its focus on vaccinating younger Americans age 18-26, who have proved to be least likely to get a vaccine when it’s available for them.

The White House said meeting Biden’s vaccination goal is less important than the pace of the nation’s reopening, which is exceeding even its own internal projections as the overwhelming majority of the nation’s most vulnerable people are fully vaccinated and cases and deaths are at their lowest rates since the earliest days of the pandemic.

Still, the nationwide rate of new vaccinations has dropped off precipitously over the past month even as shots have become more available, with fewer than 300,000 Americans now getting their first dose per day on average.

Americans at highest risk for complications from COVID-19 are overwhelmingly vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but only 53% aged 25-39 have received one dose. Among those 18-24, it’s 47%.

“What we’ve seen, as we’ve dug into the data, is that there is a big gap between individuals 25 and over, and 18 to 25,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday. “That means that’s an area we need to continue to work on.”

Tags: Joe Biden, Pandemic

Jeff Zients, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator: “For Americans 30 and older, we have met the president’s goal of at least one shot. That’s right, we have met the president’s 70% goal for all U.S. adults, 30 and over. And based on today’s estimates, we’re on track to hit the 70% target for those aged 27 and once… and over once the data for the July 4th holiday weekend is fully in. Where the country has more work to do is particularly with 18 to 26 year olds. The reality is many younger Americans have felt like COVID-19 is not something that impacts them and they’ve been less eager to get the shot. However, with the Delta variant now spreading across the country and infecting younger people worldwide. It’s more important than ever that they get vaccinated. We are working with state and local leaders to reach them. We think it will take a few extra weeks to get to 70% of all adults with at least one shot with the 18 to 26 year olds factored in.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: “The end game is to go well beyond that, beyond July 4th, into the summer and beyond, with the ultimate goal of crushing the outbreak completely in the United States. Now what are one of the main obstacles for that? Obviously, it’s under vaccinated people and under vaccinated regions of the country, particularly among the young. And as Jeff said, particularly among individuals, 18 to 26, although any age of an unvaccinated person is someone we need to get vaccinated as we concentrate on the younger.”