Biden expected to tout reaching 200 million shots since taking office
President Joe Biden is expected to tout the United States administering 200 million coronavirus vaccine shots since he took office in remarks on Wednesday, according to two administration officials.
Two hundred million shots is double the original goal Biden had set out to meet within his first 100 days in office. The US cleared 100 million shots in arms with weeks to spare.
More than 213 million Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the US in total, and about 133 million people have received at least one dose as of Wednesday morning, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
By CNN’s count, the US has administered about 196 million shots during Biden’s administration as of Wednesday morning. Data published by the CDC may be delayed, and doses may not have been given on the day reported.
Biden’s announcement comes as his administration races to get every American vaccinated and as highly contagious variants threaten to derail progress the US has made in combating the pandemic.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has warned in recent weeks that the US is at risk of losing all its recent gains in the battle against Covid-19 as the variants take advantage of Americans getting lax with safety measures.
Biden has said the US will have enough Covid-19 vaccine for every adult American by the end of next month. His administration is focused on ramping up vaccine distribution efforts and combating vaccine hesitancy across the country.
Every person 16 years and older is now eligible to be vaccinated as of Monday, and Biden administration officials say they estimate 90% of Americans now live within five miles of a vaccination site.
The daily average of the number of Covid-19 vaccines going into arms is more than 3 million doses a day, according to the CDC, but the pace of shots administered has slowed in recent days as concerns rise that supply is outstripping demand.
The White House informed governors during their weekly call on Tuesday that 28 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines would be allocated this week. This amount is consistent with last week’s allocation.
This comes after a setback for the administration with the CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration recommending the US pause the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine over six reported US cases of a “rare and severe” type of blood clot. The six reported cases are among nearly 8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered in the United States, and all were found in women between the ages of 18 and 48.
White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients stressed last week that the pause in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would “not have a significant impact” on the current pace of vaccinations in the US. He said there was “more than enough” supply of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines, which were also granted emergency use authorization by the FDA.
The White House has stressed that distributing the Covid-19 in an equitable manner across the country is central to its vaccination efforts and has focused on educating the public about the vaccines and their safety and efficacy.
On Monday, the Biden administration allocated $150 million from the American Rescue Plan to community-based health care providers to help boost their coronavirus response for underserved communities and vulnerable populations.
The administration has also poured resources into a public education campaign and into convincing hesitant Americans to get shots. In addition to television ads and other forms of outreach, Biden and former President Barack Obama recently appeared in an hour-long NBC special aimed at promoting Covid-19 vaccinations.
More than 560,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US as of Wednesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University.
