Half of American adults have now been fully vaccinated

The United States has reached a significant COVID-19 pandemic milestone.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data confirmed on Tuesday that half of U.S. adults, or more than 129 million Americans, are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, ABC News reports. Additionally, about 164 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the CDC.

This comes after President Biden said earlier this month he was aiming for 160 million American adults to be fully vaccinated and for 70 percent of U.S. adults to have received at least one vaccine dose by July 4, which he said would be a "serious step towards a return to normal."

The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

"Of course, Americans can still get shots after July 4th, but no one should wait," Biden also said at the time. "Let's try to hit that 70 percent mark."

White House COVID-19 adviser Andy Slavitt on Tuesday celebrated this "major milestone in our country's vaccination efforts," per CNN, urging those who haven't yet been vaccinated to "find whatever reason you want to" do so. Slavitt added that those on the fence about getting vaccinated can "talk to your doctor or your pharmacist" but shouldn't "let some guy on Facebook answer your question when good answers are available."