4:33
- ABC News
- June 22, 2021
WH concedes US won't hit July 4 vaccination goal
The goal was to vaccinate 70% of all adults 18 and older with at least one shot.
The reluctance among younger adults to get the vaccine, a key barrier to the Biden administration hitting its goal, will remain a challenge beyond Independence Day. Fear of the virus is less for younger people, as the age group accounts for just 0.5% of COVID-19 related deaths. But at the same time, adults 18-29 have also made up the highest number of cases throughout the pandemic, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows, and increasing vaccinations among young adults is vital to stopping the spread of the disease and its variants.
Although cases are trending down among all age groups, the 18- to 24-year-old age group and the 25- to 34-year-old age group currently have the highest weekly case rates per capita out of any age groups. Adults between the ages of 18 and 49 also currently account for the highest percentage of COVID-19 related hospitalizations at about 42%.
White House COVID officials urge vaccines as cases of Delta variant double
The key factor that each COVID official highlighted as a reason to get vaccinated was the Delta variant, which was initially discovered in India and is more severe.
\"With the Delta variant now spreading across the country and infecting younger people worldwide, it's more important than ever that they get vaccinated,\" Zients said.
According to Fauci, the Delta variant has doubled to over 20% in the last two weeks and is expected to continue doubling on the same timeframe. It's spreading mostly among young people, following the same course as in the U.K.
\"The Delta variant is currently the greatest threat in the U.S. to our attempt to eliminate COVID-19. Good news: our vaccines are effective against the Delta variant. Conclusion: we have the tools, so let's use them and crush the outbreak,\" Fauci said.
And CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that the Delta variant is already nearly half of new infections in much of the Midwest.
\"In the last two weeks, the prevalence of cases resulting from the Delta variant has doubled to just over 20%, as Dr. Fauci just showed. This variant represents nearly half of all infections in HHS Regions 7 and 8. This is concerning but expected,\" she said, referring to Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, which make up HHS Region 7 and Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, which make up HHS Region 8.
Walensky also went as far as to call every future COVID-19 death preventable, thanks to the vaccines.
\"They are nearly 100% effective against severe disease and death, meaning nearly every death due to COVID-19 is particularly tragic because nearly every death, especially among adults, due to COVID-19 is -- at this point -- entirely preventable,\" she said.
She warned that not getting vaccinated leaves open the risk of the virus mutating to evade the vaccine.
\"We know our vaccines work against this variant. However, this variant represents a set of mutations that could lead to future mutations that evade our vaccine. And that's why it's more important than ever to get vaccinated now to stop the chain of infection, the chain of mutations that could lead to a more dangerous variant,\" Walensky said.
For now, a White House official said the plan is to focus on what has already been achieved, including plummeting cases and deaths. But the concession is a missed mark for the Biden administration, which has frequently been criticized for setting vaccination goals that were not seen as ambitious.
The White House will also tout its own July Fourth celebration plans -- 1,000 first responders and military personnel on the South Lawn to view the traditional fireworks on the National Mall, where thousands more will surely gather.
ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
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