The United States has reached another milestone in its ongoing battle against coronavirus.
During his Friday speech from the White House, President Joe Biden announced the country has administered 300 million COVID vaccine shots in his first 150 days in office. POTUS called the feat “a truly American accomplishment,” crediting scientists, the American people, and a “whole-of-government” response.
“Just remember what the situation was like 150 days ago,” Biden said, as reported by CNN. “We didn’t have enough vaccine supply for all Americans. We didn’t have the vaccine infrastructure, but we turned it around together by working quickly, aggressively, and equitably. We secured enough vaccine supply for every American … We are now in a position to provide more than one-half billion vaccine doses to the rest of the world, the hundred poorest nations.”
The president went on to say the coronavirus “is in retreat,” highlighting the decreasing number of confirmed COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. However, he emphasized that the nation isn’t out of the woods just yet, and encouraged unvaccinated citizens to get their vaccine doses as soon as possible—especially in light of new variants.
“People getting seriously ill and being hospitalized due to COVID-19 are those who have not been fully vaccinated,” Biden said Friday. “[The Delta variant] is a variant that is more easily transmissible, potentially deadlier, and particularly dangerous for young people.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 310 million vaccine doses have been administered in the US as of June 14. Over 172 million people—about 52 percent of the US population— have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Of those people, approximately 141.6 million have been fully vaccinated.
Although the figures are encouraging, it seems less and less likely that the Biden administration will reach its July 4 deadline for having at least 70 percent of US adults partially or fully vaccinated.
