White House acknowledges it will fall short
White House officials faced reality on Tuesday, and acknowledged that the United States is expected to fall short of President Biden’s stated goal of vaccinating 70 percent of American adults with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine by July 4.
According to the CDC, the nation stands at 65.4 percent.
White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said it will take “a few extra weeks” to get 70 percent of all adults 18 and over with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, pointing to a greater challenge of convincing those between 18 and 26 to get vaccinated. He also said the country will fall short of having 160 million people fully vaccinated.
New goal: Zients said during a briefing that the administration has vaccinated 70 percent of those 30 years old and up with at least one dose and is on track to meet the 70 percent goal among those 27 and older by July 4.
Definite progress: The Biden administration has made significant progress against the virus, with COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths declining dramatically since the start of the year. Biden last week marked another milestone, announcing that 300 million coronavirus vaccine shots had been administered in his first 150 days.
Free beer? Unclear: The other downside to the missed goal? We’re probably going to have to wait on the free beer from Anheuser-Busch, which promised to buy a round for every person (of legal drinking age) when the U.S. hits the 70 percent mark.
