The Biden administration will likely announce Tuesday that it will fall short of meeting the July 4 COVID-19 vaccination goal.
- The goal, which was announced by President Joe Biden, was to get one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the arms of 70% of Americans by July 4.
Jeffrey Zients, the head of the White House COVID-19 response team, will likely announce that the 70% vaccination target was met by Americans 30 and older, and soon it will reach those 27 and older, NBC News reports. But Zients will likely say it will take “a few extra weeks” for all adults to reach the benchmark.
- “The reality is, many younger Americans have felt like COVID-19 is not something that impacts them and have been less eager to get the shot,” Zients said, according to NBC News, which obtained his remarks ahead of time.
Biden first announced the goal back in March, saying the United States will hopefully “mark independence” from COVID-19 on July 4.
He called on states to help make people eligible for the vaccine sooner rather than later, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
- “If we do this together, by July 4 there is a good chance you, your family and friends can get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout or a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day,” he said.
- “After a long, hard year, that will make this Independence Day truly special — where we not only mark our independence as a nation but we begin to mark our independence from this virus.”
Interestingly, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox made a similar promise for Utah residents in February about returning to normal by July 4. It’s unclear if Utah will return to normal by that time. But if you’ve been to your local Smith’s, it seems things have returned to normal.