Residents are waiting in line to get vaccinated at a massive COVID-19 vaccination center installed in a parking lot outside the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks, on March 10, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
The United States on Friday exceeded 100 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine administered, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 35 million people have been completely vaccinated, representing 13.5% of the U.S. adult population, according to the CDC. The CDC said more than 65.9 million people have received at least one shot of the two-dose regimens.
The milestone marks the fulfillment of President Joe Biden’s goal of administering at least 100 million shots during his first 100 days in office.
The administration has slowly accelerated the pace of vaccinations since Biden took office. The White House initially tried to administer a million shots a day, which some public health specialists criticized as a low target. On Friday, according to the CDC, the U.S. administered a record 2.9 million shots.
There are now three vaccines against Covid-19 that have received an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. The Moderna and Pfizer two-dose vaccine was authorized for emergency use in December and the Johnson & Johnson single vaccine received liquidation last month.
The White House has been working with manufacturers to speed up production and increase the total supply of features committed to the U.S. On Wednesday, Biden announced that the administration plans to secure an additional 100 million doses of the J&J vaccine.
J&J currently has an agreement with the U.S. government to provide 100 million doses by the end of June, although White House officials said this week that the company will be able to deliver those doses by the end of May. That’s thanks to an agreement in which Merck, J&J’s rival, will help dose the vaccine, Jeff Zients, White House response coordinator Jeff Zients, said Friday in a briefing.
Zients added that Moderna and Pfizer are expected to deliver 200 million doses each of their vaccines by the end of May.
“This is a supply of vaccines more than enough to vaccinate all American adults by the end of May,” Zients said. “Now we need to increase the number of vaccinators, as we’ve talked about, and the number of places where Americans can get vaccinated.”
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