U.S. finally hits 70 percent vaccination threshold

The United States has finally hit the 70-percent vaccination threshold, Cyrus Shahpar, the White House's COVID-19 data director, announced Monday.

President Biden said earlier this year he was aiming for 70 percent of American adults to have received at least one shot of the available vaccines by July 4, but the goal was not met in time. Now, though, the latest Delta variant-fueled COVID-19 wave seems to have spurred an increase in vaccinations — not only has the U.S. reached a milestone, Shahpar notes, but the country's seven-day vaccination average is also the highest it's been in a month.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.