White House confirms administration likely to miss its vaccination goal. y

Biden administration likely to miss July 4 vaccine target as new Covid strain surges The setback comes amid a drop in the nation’s vaccination rate and difficulties in convincing younger Americans in particular to seek out the shot. POLITICO

The Biden administration is likely to miss its goal of providing at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose to 70 percent of adults by July Fourth, White House and federal health officials confirmed on Tuesday.

The setback comes amid a weekslong drop in the nation’s vaccination rate and persistent difficulties in persuading younger Americans in particular to seek out the shot. Public health officials also are grappling with a spike in the more easily transmissable Delta variant of the coronavirus that now accounts for 20 percent of all cases and is expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S.

The Biden administration now estimates that it will hit the 70 percent threshold only for those aged 27 and up by July 4, a milestone that White House officials touted as a dramatic turnaround from the pace under the Trump administration. The vaccination rate also exceeds 70 percent for those age 30 and up.

“The important question is, does America look like America again? And across the country, it does,” a senior administration official said, arguing that more important than hitting the 70 percent mark is that much of the U.S. has already fully reopened.

White House officials in the coming days are also likely to highlight the sharp drop in Covid-19 cases and deaths across the nation, in a bid to shift focus from President Joe Biden’s initial U.S. vaccination goal to the reality in most places vaccination rates are high enough that people can resume large gatherings. ...

The U.S. was averaging more than 2 million shots per day in early May; that has since slowed to closer to 1 million, as demand falls and the remaining unvaccinated population proves more difficult to reach. Health officials expressed alarm that the more contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is increasingly taking hold, threatening to drive up infections in pockets of the U.S. where fewer people have received shots. The variant now accounts for more than 20 percent of U.S. cases, according to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. ...