Today, President Biden set a goal of 70 percent of adult Americans having at least one coronavirus vaccine shot by the Fourth of July. Much like Biden’s 100 million shots in 100 days, this figure sounds impressive and ambitious, but appears much less daunting once you look at the current rate.
As of this morning, according to the CDC, 56.3 percent of Americans over age 18 have at least one dose — 145.3 million adults. Reaching the 75 percent threshold will require another 48.2 million shots.
That sounds like a lot, but there are 61 days between tomorrow and July 4 — meaning the United States needs to average a bit more than 790,000 shots per day. While the number of shots administered per day has dropped from a peak in mid-April, the U.S. is still averaging 2.29 million shots per day.
If, starting tomorrow, the U.S. averages half what the current average is — about 1.14 million per day –we will still hit Biden’s goal before the end of June.