President Joe Biden said that the fight against the coronavirus ‘is not over’ after the US missed his self-imposed vaccination goal with a July 4 deadline – but did not set a new target.
Biden had aimed to have 70% of American adults with at least one shot and 160million Americans fully vaccinated by Independence Day on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday afternoon after receiving a briefing from the White House Covid-19 Response Team, Biden said that more than 160million Americans will be vaccinated by the end of this week. That is several days after his July 4 target.
As of Tuesday, about 67% of adults were at least partially vaccinated.
‘We’re closer than ever to declaring our independence from this deadly virus,’ Biden said.
‘The bottom line is: the virus is on the run, and America is coming back, and we’re coming back together. But our fight against this virus is not over.’
Earlier on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration at the moment does not plan to set another coronavirus vaccination goal for the nation.
Though he did not set a new vaccination goal with a deadline, Biden said that efforts will continue to target people who are not eager to get the jab. He said that mass vaccination sites that served millions of Americans in the spring are closing and ‘now we need to go community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood’.
Biden added that the Delta variant is responsible for about half of all Covid cases in some parts of the US.
‘Seems to me, it should cause everyone to think twice,’ the president said about the variant.
Covid-19 cases and deaths are down 90% since January, which has allowed Americans to begin ‘living their lives as they did before,’ Biden said.
But he asked Americans, especially young people who think they are immune, to ‘finish the job – finish it together’.
‘Please get vaccinated. It makes a big difference,’ Biden concluded. ‘It’s the patriotic thing to do.
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