At the beginning of May, President Joe Biden targeted two important milestones for the United States’ birthday this year – fully vaccinating 160 million adult Americans and having administered at least the first dose to 70% of the adult population.
But with only a few weeks left to go until July 4, it looks like the country will fall short, according to a new analysis of CDC data by CNBC.
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Only about 65% of adults have received at least one shot as of earlier this week. In order to reach Biden’s goal, about 13.6 million people would have to receive their first dose in the next few weeks. That’s an average 756,000 new vaccinations every day for the next 18 days.
As of right now, the country is averaging 336,000 new vaccinations per day, setting the U.S. on track to achieve 67% adults partially vaccinated by July 4.
It also seems unlikely the country will reach 160 million fully vaccinated adults in the next few weeks. So far, 142 million adults have gotten fully vaccinated and it’s likely around 152 million will be fully vaccinated by the Fourth of July if the current rate remains steady.
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Many states are on target or have surpassed the 70% mark already, including New York and the District of Columbia. But others have been lagging behind, such as Mississippi and Alabama, with rates below 50%.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor, was undeterred by possibly falling 3% short of the original goal.
"If you don’t meet the precise goal and you fall short by a few percent, that doesn’t mean you stop in your effort to get people vaccinated," Fauci said in a news briefing last week. "We want to reach 70% of the adult population by the Fourth of July. I believe we can, I hope we will, and if we don’t we’re going to continue to keep pushing."
Fauci urged those who haven’t yet to get vaccinated.
"If you get vaccinated, you dramatically, dramatically diminish the risk of getting infected and almost eliminate the risk of serious disease," he said.
Fauci also emphasized the importance of vaccination in the face of new mutations, such as the Delta variant coming out of India.
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