Maryland National Guard Brigadier General Janeen Birckhead visits with a woman as she receives her Moderna coronavirus vaccine from Specialist James Truong (L) at CASA de Maryland’s Wheaton Welcome Center on May 21, 2021 in Wheaton, Maryland.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
Half of the adults in the United States are now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to the latest data Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The milestone in the sweeping effort for the U.S. to inoculate its way out of the pandemic comes as infections and deaths from Covid fall to lows the nation has not seen for nearly a year.
Earlier this month, President Joe Biden set the goal of getting 70% of adults to receive at least their first dose of a Covid vaccine by the Fourth of July. The president said his hope was for the U.S. to “celebrate our independence as a nation, and our independence of this virus,” by Independence Day.
With nearly six weeks left until Biden’s self-imposed deadline, at least nine states have already hit that 70% threshold.
The CDC’s vaccine tracker showed Tuesday afternoon that 50% of the U.S. population ages 18 or older have been fully vaccinated as of Monday, and 61.6% of that group have had at least one dose.
Among people in the U.S. ages 65 and up, who face far greater health risks from Covid, nearly 74% have been fully vaccinated, the CDC’s tracker shows.
