America has reached Joe Biden’s 70% vaccination rate goal, but Washington, D.C., is still mandating face coverings, delta variant still “spiking.”
- The White House announced Monday that the U.S. has surpassed Joe Biden’s goal of getting at least one coronavirus vaccine dose to 70% of Americans, according to CNBC.
- Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “shows 70% of U.S. adults have had at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine.”
- White House Covid-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahpar said on Twitter that at least 70 percent of adults have at least one shot, notes Politico.
- Despite the nation’s high vaccination rate, the Delta variant of the coronavirus is still “spiking.”
- Meanwhile, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser’s reinstated mandate went into effect Saturday.
- The mandate “requires residents over the age of 2 to wear face masks indoors, regardless of vaccination,” according to Fox News.
- 54% of the DC’s residents are vaccinated, according to city data.
WHAT NOW?:
- Health officials are setting new goals: “We need to have at least 80% of the population vaccinated to truly have some form of herd immunity,” Dr. Paul Offit, a voting member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, said in a recent interview.
BACKGROUND:
- When Biden set his sights on the 70% goal in May, he wanted the milestone to be hit by the Fourth of July.
- U.S. health officials continue to promote vaccines even though studies cited by the CDC show that nearly 75% of those who become infected with the coronavirus had been fully vaccinated.
- 233 vaccinated San Francisco health workers also recently caught COVID.
- CDC Director Rochelle Walensky says that vaccinated people “can transmit the virus.”
- Vaccinated Olympic athletes have had to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics because they’ve tested positive for Covid-19.
