The U.S. will have administered 100 million coronavirus vaccine doses to Americans by Friday, President Joe Biden announced Thursday.
The milestone came far sooner than Biden’s goal before coming to office, when he said his administration would vaccinate 100 million in his first 100 days in office. As the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines both require two doses to fully vaccinate a person, the mark shows roughly 50 million Americans are vaccinated. The newer Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine requires only one dose, however.
“I’m proud to announce that tomorrow, 58 days into our administration, we will have met my goal of administering 100 million shots to our fellow Americans,” Biden said. “That’s weeks ahead of schedule.”
.@POTUS says by Friday, 100 million people in the United States will have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. He plans to announce his next goal next week.
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) March 18, 2021
Biden also reiterated his administration’s projection that the U.S. will have enough supply to vaccinate all Americans by the end of May. He said the U.S. must reach herd immunity before returning fully to normal life. Dr. Anthony Fauci has said the herd immunity for COVID-19 requires between 70-85 percent of the population to be vaccinated. (RELATED: Biden Admin To Send 2.5 Million Doses Of AstraZeneca Vaccine To Mexico, Canada)
President Biden clarifies, “We’ve got to reach the point where we have herd immunity, meaning where we have a vast majority of the American people have been vaccinated, before we can stop wearing these.” https://t.co/tP4cOSLIqm pic.twitter.com/RD2faY8mD7
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) March 18, 2021
Fauci told reporters earlier in March that he expects the U.S. will reach herd immunity by late summer or early fall 2021.
The Biden administration will announce its new goal for vaccinations next week, Biden said.