Twenty states have reached the Biden administration's goal to partially vaccinate 70 per cent of American adults by the Fourth of July as the Delta variant spreads and people gather for holiday celebrations across the country.
White House officials acknowledged last month that they would fall short of their goal, which was set in early May when the US was vaccinating people at a much faster pace than it is now.
The U.S. reached its highest vaccination rate in mid-April when the seven-day average of doses administered daily topped 3.3 million. At that time, 1.8 million new people became fully vaccinated each day.
But that rate was not sustained, dropping to a seven-day average of 1,121,064 doses given per day as of Saturday. About 685,472 people are becoming fully vaccinated daily.
However, the administration did come close to its goal of vaccinating 160 million adults by the holiday -- 157 million adults were fully vaccinated as of Saturday, federal data shows.
Health experts have been sounding the alarm on the risk low vaccination rates pose in some areas as the Delta variant of the coronavirus is now detected in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, DC.
The Delta variant, which is highly contagious and causes even more severe illness, has been spreading so rapidly in some areas that officials brought back their mask guidance even if people are fully vaccinated.
Pandemic-era travel record broken at start of holiday weekend
The number of people traveling by air hit a new pandemic-era record Friday as people are on the move for the Fourth of July weekend.
The Transportation Security Administration said it screened 2,196,411 people at airports across the country, the highest number since the start of the pandemic.
According to the TSA, that number is higher than the same day in 2019 before the pandemic, when the TSA screened 2,184,253 passengers.
AAA anticipates 47.7 million people will travel by road and air from July 1 to July 5, a 40 per cent increase over Independence Day travel last year and the second-highest travel volume on record.
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