J&J vaccine 'especially' important for the vulnerable, doc says
Epidemiologist Dr. Martin Kulldorff discusses product now returning to use after ‘pause’ in distribution
The U.S. has vaccinated 100 million people against coronavirus, officials announced Friday. Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, said that 55% of American adults now have at least one dose of vaccine.
"Today we reached a major milestone on the number of Americans fully vaccinated," Zients said. "Today 100 million Americans are fully vaccinated. Nearly double the 55 million who were fully vaccinated at the end of March. That's 100 million, nearly 40% of all adult Americans who are now fully vaccinated with protection from COVID-19 two weeks after getting their last shot. That's 100 million Americans with a sense of relief and peace of mind knowing that after a hard long year they are protected from the virus. Knwoing their decision to get vaccinated protects not just themselves, but also protects their families, their friends and their communities."
Over 300 million doses of the vaccine have been shipped throughout the U.S. thus far, and 220 million of those have been administered. However, the daily rates of vaccination have dropped from the highs of over 3 million per day down to 2.6 million.
"We know we have more work to do and in the weeks and months ahead we will continue building on the progress we've made in our first 100 days," Zients said.
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Overall, the U.S. has seen a 16% drop in the 7-day daily average of new coronavirus cases reported, with over 53,000 illnesses tallied yesterday. Hospitalizations are also down about 10%, and officials saw an 8% drop in death rates as well.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said the agency has also made significant progress in genomic sequencing to identify mutations and detect new variants.
When asked if a plan set forth by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to reopen on July 1 is feasible, or an example of reopening too soon, Walensky voiced optimism about current trends but warned that the virus "has tricked us before."
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"We're focused on getting people vaccinated and decreasing the case rates," she said. "If we can continue at this pace, case rates are coming down, vaccinations are going up then I think July 1 would be a reasonable target."