President Joe Biden is reportedly set to announce Tuesday that all adult Americans across the country will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines by April 19 well ahead of the already ambitious previous target.
CNN reported that Biden was shifting the deadline for full eligibility from May 1 to April 19 after rapid progress in all 50 states in the vaccine rollouts. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
If the target is met, this would mean an end to restrictions by age, health issues or other categories for people wanting to get coronavirus vaccines. It would not necessarily mean that anyone could get a shot immediately, as distribution remains a work in progress.
Biden was scheduled to visit a vaccination site in Virginia, just outside of Washington, on Tuesday, before delivering remarks on the topic at the White House. The Democrat immediately put mass vaccinations at the center of his agenda after taking office in a bid to quickly halt the pandemic and launch the US economy into a powerful comeback.
An initial goal of administering one million vaccine doses every day has long been surpassed and on Monday senior White House pandemic advisor Andy Slavitt said the United States is “now averaging 3.1 million shots per day over the most recent seven-day period.”
“Over the weekend, there were more than 4-million recorded vaccinations in a single day for the first time,” he said. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned however that new cases are rising again, as people — especially youths — let down their guard.
“We are seeing this occur predominantly in younger adults,” Walensky said Monday. Many of these, as I noted, are related to extracurricular activities and youth sports.
In other news – Kim Kardashian West is officially a billionaire
When Kim Kardashian West was first mentioned in the pages of Forbes in 2011, it was simply a tally of her Twitter followers: 6.6 million, just below Barack Obama and just above Ashton Kutcher.
Five years later, she graced the cover of Forbes thanks to her booming mobile game, which helped her earn $51 million that year. Now, she officially joins the World’s Billionaires list for the first time. Learn more
Source: eNCA
