The Administration intends to vaccinate 70 percent of the U.S. population by July 4th.  This target would require immunization of at least 100 million U.S. residents with either two doses of an mRNA vaccine or a single dose of the J&J product.  During the first 100 days of the current Administration, 220 million doses were administered and as of the beginning of May, 56 percent of U.S. adults had received at least one dose of vaccine representing 150 million recipients.  Currently any person over the age of 16 can receive a vaccine and most pharmacies are offering walk-in service.  Decreasing demand has also led to disbanding mass vaccination sites.  The Administration is also reassigning available vaccine that was previously supplied on a State-population basis.  States that are unable to use their allocations will have vaccine doses surplus to their requirements diverted to other areas with demonstrated demand.

It is generally accepted that we need to vaccinate over 75 percent of our population to achieve ‘herd immunity’. This will suppress the incidence rate of COVID, as in Israel, and inhibit the emergence of potentially more transmissible and possibly more virulent variants.