The United States, which has amassed the world's largest inventory of COVID-19 vaccines, on Friday announced it had administered more than 100 million vaccine doses to Americans since inoculations began in late December 2020.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday said more than 35 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, or 13.5% of the total adult U.S. population. Some 65.9 million Americans have received at least one shot of the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Inc. Of the total 100 million doses, 16.5 million were administered during the Trump administration.
CDC said that of those 65 and older, more than 32% have been fully vaccinated and over 61% have received at least one dose. This success is praiseworthy because 80% of deaths caused by COVID-19 in the U.S. have been among people 65 and older.
There are now three vaccines that have received an Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. These are Pfizer/BioNTech's and Moderna's two-dose vaccines and Johnson & Johnson's single-shot vaccine.
To keep his administration on track to administer 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office, President Joe Biden has ordered another 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, also called the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine.
This new order will lead to a vaccine surplus in the U.S. later this year while much of the rest of the world struggles with to acquire vaccines. Biden has also rebuffed requests by Mexico, Canada and the European Union for vaccines produced in the United States in what some call a dismaying example of vaccine nationalism.
The White House said Biden's first priority is ensuring Americans are vaccinated before considering distributing doses to other countries.
"We want to be oversupplied and overprepared," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
The Biden administration is accelerating the pace of vaccinations. Its original target was to administer one million shots per day. On Friday, the U.S. administered a record 2.9 million shots, said the CDC.
Biden used his first prime time address on Thursday to call on states to make all adults eligible for the vaccines by May 1.
"If we all do our part, this country will be vaccinated soon, our economy will not be on the mend, our kids will be back in school, and we'll have proven once again that this country can do anything," according to Biden. But "if we don't stay vigilant, and the conditions change, then we may have to reinstate restrictions to get back on track."
