Biden Will Miss His July 4 Goal—But We're Making Slow and Steady Progress
The Biden Administration stated yesterday that it will almost definitely miss its goal of vaccinating 70% of U.S. adults by July 4—as of June 22, 65.5% of those 18 or older have gotten at least one shot, per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and less than 0.2% of Americans are getting their first dose every day. With just 11 days until U.S. President Joe Biden's self-imposed deadline, we'll probably end up somewhere around the 68% mark.
That's still pretty good, of course, and there's nothing particularly special about July 4; it was just a nice target date, given the holiday. But the White House's urgency around vaccination is rooted in real concerns. While some states, like Maine and Massachusetts, have vaccinated over 60% of their populations, others, like Mississippi (where 29.1% of residents are vaccinated) and Alabama (32%) are far behind. Moreover, young people are particularly under-vaccinated compared to older Americans. Those are serious problems, especially as the more transmissible Delta variant becomes increasingly prevalent around the country.
So what's the White House to do? Thankfully, experts foresaw that hesitancy and access would eventually trump supply as the central issue. To tackle those problems, the Biden Administration has been enlisting community groups, faith leaders, athletes and more to become vaccination emissaries in a program called the COVID-19 Community Corps, my colleagues Abigail Abrams and Alana Abramson report:
Person by person, the corps is trying to chip away at bitter politics and entrenched resistance to federal intervention. While polling shows that vaccine hesitancy has declined since Biden took office, it’s difficult to quantify how much can be attributed to the corps. But if the program works, it could save lives and usher in a post-pandemic reality where Americans have a rebuilt faith in federal leadership. “You can lead in government by being at the forefront and being the loudest voice in the room,” says Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. “But you can also lead by supporting leaders and communities and giving them the tools and resources, information and support that they need.”
The Corps seems to be having mixed results—in their story, Abigail and Alana report on a farm in Unicoi, Tenn., where the program helped vaccinate about 80 workers, many of whom come seasonally from Mexico and distrust the U.S. health care system. On the other hand, they also report on a half-day effort to vaccinate people in Texarkana, Texas that only resulted in six inoculations.
Still, every dose counts, and that's six fewer people vulnerable to catching and spreading COVID-19. What Abigail and Alana's reporting makes most clear is that, if the initial vaccine rollout was a sprint, convincing the skeptics will be a slog—but a necessary one. One humble suggestion from this writer: if we can't celebrate hitting the 70% mark on the Fourth of July, let's turn that weekend into a national vaccination drive—given that many people have off from work anyway, it's the perfect time to get protected.
About 379.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to U.S. states as of this morning, of which some 319 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 45.3% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
More than 179.1 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 3.8 million people have died. On June 22, there were 320,876 new cases and 367 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 3 million cases.
The U.S. had recorded more than 33.5 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 602,400 people have died. On June 22, there were 10,527 new cases and 367 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of June 23, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
There's a "likely association" between the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and the small number of heart inflammation cases that have occurred largely among young adults and adolescents, a CDC advisory group said during a meeting today. About 1,200 cases of the conditions, called myocarditis and pericarditis, have been reported among the nearly 180 million people in the U.S. who have received at least one vaccine dose. Only nine people have been hospitalized with the condition so far. Given the conditions' rarity and the fact that they're relatively benign, CDC officials still recommend vaccination even for younger people. Moreover, per a statement from the country's top doctors, myocarditis and pericarditis are more common among those who develop COVID-19, which often attacks the heart.
Planning a big, fully vaccinated Fourth of July hang this year? Don't sweat COVID too much, says Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to President Biden. "Those who are vaccinated can have a great Fourth of July, I mean, you could just do all the things you want to do on the Fourth of July if, in fact, you’re vaccinated," he told NBC's Savannah Guthrie this morning. However, he warned that the unvaccinated remain at risk, especially as the Delta variant spreads around the U.S.
Eight Indiana University students have filed suit against the school over its vaccination requirement, CBS News reports. The suit alleges that the requirement violates both state laws as well as the 14th Amendment. The university has said that while unvaccinated students could be deregistered from classes and barred from participation in campus life, it is allowing for medical and religious exemptions—which, the school argues, makes the requirement legal. A federal judge recently dismissed a similar lawsuit from employees at a Houston, Texas hospital.
About 900 U.S. Secret Service members have tested positive for COVID-19 throughout the outbreak, the Associated Press reports based on documents obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group. More than half of those who tested positive worked for a division responsible for protecting the President, Vice President, and other officials and their families. Former President Donald Trump was often criticized for putting Secret Service agents at risk of contracting the coronavirus, most notably when he took a drive around Walter Reed National Military Medical Center while being treated for the disease in October of last year.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has completed a so-called "mix and match" vaccination regimen, the BBC reports, receiving a shot of the Moderna vaccine several days ago after getting an AstraZeneca-Oxford University jab in April. Some experts believe mixing doses could result in better protection, but there's limited data either way, and most top public health agencies—including the U.S. CDC—recommend that two-dose shot recipients stick to the same brand.
Didn't like yesterday's suggestion of an island getaway in Phuket, Thailand? Consider instead Guam, where officials are offering vaccinations to travelers age 12 or older from any country, the New York Times reports. At least 500 visitors from Thailand, where the vaccine rollout has been slow, are expected to make the journey, per local news outlets. The unusual move is an effort to boost tourism in Guam, a U.S. territory that's economically struggled amid the outbreak.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Alex Fitzpatrick and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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