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The United States appears unlikely to reach President Joe Biden‘s vaccination goals as a more contagious COVID-19 variant has led to rising case numbers in some parts of the country.
With two weeks left to meet Biden’s goal of 70% of American adults with at least one vaccine dose and 160 million adults fully vaccinated by July 4, the United States stands at 65.3% of adults with one dose and 143,573,099 fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC data show that a total of 379,003,410 vaccine doses have been delivered nationwide, with 317,117,797 administered as 149,034,744, or 52.6% of the total eligible U.S. population, including children aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated.
As of Sunday, 15 states plus the District of Columbia had vaccinated at least one vaccine dose: Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Illinois, Washington, California, New Mexico, Hawaii. Vermont has the best percentage at 84.4%.
Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner and current Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb said it likely would not make a public health difference if the Biden administration falls just short of its vaccination goals but said it must seek to expand vaccine outreach to continue driving inoculations.
“Now, we need to think about trying to push out the vaccine into community sites where people could get it delivered to them through a trusted intermediary,” said Gottlieb. “That’s going to mean doctor’s offices, schools, places of employment. We need to think about a different vaccine delivery strategy to get the people who are still reluctant or who still face challenges getting into those access sites.”
