U.S. Hits 70% COVID-19 Vaccination Mark, A Month After Biden’s Deadline

President Joe Biden‘s administration hoped to hit the 70 percent vaccination mark for all American adults by July 4, but the goal was only reached on Monday.

Cyrus Shahpar, the COVID-19 data director at the White House, made the announcement on Twitter. He wrote that at least 70 percent of adults have received at least their first dose. He called the attained goal a “Milestone Monday,” and encouraged more eligible people to continue getting vaccinated, especially because of the surge in cases related to the delta variant.

Although data from the Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC) has shown that vaccinated people could still get breakthrough cases of COVID-19, there is a much lower chance of having severe symptoms and hospitalizations.

An average of about 432,000 new first doses was reported every day to the CDC for the past seven days. CDC data also shows that some states like Vermont, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Connecticut surpassed the 80% mark, while states like Mississippi, Wyoming and Louisiana are still lagging far behind.

Biden has urged states to provide incentives for people to get vaccinated, such as offering $100 payments for each inoculation. He has also encouraged federal pharmacy programs to work with schools and inform them about the vaccines. Additionally, Biden has pushed forward a COVID-19 reimbursement program as well that has helped businesses to offer paid leaves for employees to get vaccinated.

Experts say that the 70 percent mark is significant, but note the so-called herd immunity is still far off.