Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House chief infectious disease expert, recently said the U.S. could avoid another major surge if COVID-19 vaccination numbers reach the 70% level.
Fauci told The Washington Post that the U.S. should aim to hit President Joe Biden’s goal of getting 70% of Americans at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
- “If we get to the president’s goal — which I believe we will attain — of getting 70% of people getting at least one dose, adults that is, by July 4, there will be enough protection in the community that I really don’t foresee there being the risk of a surge,” Fauci said.
That surge will be avoided if “we continue to get people vaccinated at the rate we have now,” Fauci said.
- He said in an ideal scenario to defeat a virus, you would want vaccines that are as “highly effective as these vaccines are, and you get a substantial proportion of the population vaccinated, the chances of there being a surge are extraordinarily low, I mean quite, quite low.”
How many Americans are vaccinated?
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 60% of American adults have gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, per CNBC.
This has happened six weeks before July 4 — which is when Biden said he wants the country to hit the 70% mark, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
The average COVID-19 case count is hovering around 31,000 this week, per CNBC.