WASHINGTON – Health workers in the United States have administered more than 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses, an official tracker showed, around 30% of the world’s total shots in arms so far.
An overall 101,128,005 shots have been administered, according to the latest tally posted yesterday afternoon by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
President Joe Biden’s administration initially targeted achieving this milestone by his 100th day in office, that is, April 30.
But, the goal was quickly revised up to 150 million shots in the first 100 days, and this week, Biden said there will be enough vaccines to cover the whole adult population of 258 million by end-May.
In terms of breakdown, 65.9 million people have received at least one dose, while 35 million are now fully vaccinated, or 10.5% of the total population of 331 million.
Of those above 65 years old – the group most susceptible to severe Covid-19 – 61% have received at least one dose.
Some 50 million doses of the Pfizer shot have been administered, 49 million of Moderna’s, 900,000 of Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine, and a further 100,000 that have not been identified.
More than 340 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered worldwide, according to an AFP tally.
The US, therefore, accounts for almost 30% of those, despite making up just over 4% of the world population.
Also yesterday, the administration announced that new personnel, such as dentists, veterinarians and healthcare students, will be recruited to the nationwide inoculation campaign.
“The Health and Human Services Department will launch a new portal to help individuals determine where they can sign up to volunteer to administer shots,” Marcella Nunez-Smith, who leads the administration’s health equity task force, told reporters.
The government previously authorised any physician or most classes of nurse, either active or retired in the past five years, to administer Covid-19 shots.
The US is currently administering around 2.2 million shots per day.
The state of Michigan yesterday said it wants to drop eligibility requirements for vaccines by April 5, effectively ushering in “open season” for all adults.
Alaska became the first state to eliminate priority groups on Tuesday.
In addition to the three vaccines already authorised, AstraZeneca and Novavax are also carrying out late-stage US clinical trials for their vaccines.
These could get the nod if they perform comparably to those already being distributed, and are still required. – AFP, March 13, 2021
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