白宫COVID反应小组周二宣布，美国不会实现乔·拜登总统的目标，即在象征性的7月4日假期之前，让70%的18岁及以上成年人至少接种一针疫苗。
本月早些时候，拜登呼吁全国“行动月””——一场达成目标的“全美冲刺”，一场“自由的夏天”。"
“我们可以做到这一点，”拜登说。
但是周二，白宫新冠肺炎(新型冠状病毒肺炎)协调员杰夫·齐恩斯承认，目前的疫苗接种速度不会使美国达到全部目标，而是强调了以前不是公共目标的其他疫苗接种里程碑。白宫宣布，70%的30岁及以上的成年人已经接种过至少一次疫苗，到7月4日，美国将有70%的27岁及以上的美国人接种过一次疫苗。
这些成就虽然标志着在对抗冠状病毒方面取得了进展，但并没有达到为所有18岁及以上的成年人接种疫苗的最初目标，也没有绕过大多数病例发生在30岁以下这一令人担忧的事实，冠状病毒研究小组承认，他们需要改善对这一年龄组的外联工作，特别是随着德尔塔变异病例的增加。
“我们希望每个社区的每个美国人都受到保护，免受病毒的威胁。这就是为什么我们将继续努力在夏季和秋季为更多的美国人接种疫苗...我们不会停留在70%，也不会停留在7月4日，”Zients在周二的白宫COVID回应简报中说。
苏珊·沃尔什/美联社
2021年6月22日，白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基在每日简报会上发言。
后来被问到美国广播公司首席白宫记者塞西莉亚·维加(Cecilia Vega)白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)表示，美国已经实现了30岁及以上成年人中70%部分接种疫苗的目标，但给有色人种社区、保守社区和年轻人群接种疫苗更加困难。
“我们并不认为事情真的出了问题，我们认为我们设定了一个大胆、雄心勃勃的目标——总统从一开始就做了这件事——我们有望实现这个目标。就在7月4日之后的几周，事实上，在这一点上，从今天开始，对于30岁及以上的人来说，我们将已经在这一点上了，”她说。
就在6月初，拜登的首席医疗顾问安东尼·福奇博士仍然相信，美国将实现拜登的目标，总统于5月4日宣布了这一目标。
福奇在6月7日的日间脱口秀节目“与凯利和瑞安一起直播”中说:“我们希望，到7月4日，我们将达到70%的成年人口。”。
德鲁·安格雷尔/盖蒂图像，文件
乔·拜登总统在谈到国家对新冠肺炎的反应和疫苗接种后离开
截至周二，65.4%的18岁及以上的成年人至少打了一针。在目前接种疫苗的速度到下周日，这一数字不太可能达到70%——相反，还需要几周时间。
“国家有更多的工作要做，尤其是18至26岁的人。事实是，许多年轻的美国人觉得新冠肺炎对他们没有什么影响，他们也不太想去尝试，”赞茨说。
他说，70%的18-26岁年轻人需要“额外的几周时间”。
大约还有1180万成年人需要接种第一剂疫苗，才能达到所有成年人的70%。美国要在12天后的7月4日前达到这一目标，每天需要约99万名成年人接种疫苗。然而，截至周二，平均每天只有约392，000名成年人获得第一剂药物。
按照目前的速度，到7月4日，美国将比70%的目标少打710万针，大约67.2%的成年人至少接种了一剂疫苗。
年轻人不愿意接种疫苗，这是拜登政府实现其目标的一个关键障碍，但这仍将是一个挑战国家独立纪念日。年轻人对病毒的恐惧较少，因为该年龄组仅占新冠肺炎相关死亡的0.5%。但与此同时，疾病控制和预防中心的数据显示，18-29岁的成年人也是整个大流行中患病人数最多的人群演出在年轻人中增加疫苗接种对于阻止疾病及其变异体的传播至关重要。
尽管所有年龄组的病例都呈下降趋势，但在所有年龄组中，18至24岁年龄组和25至34岁年龄组的人均每周病例率最高。18至49岁的成年人目前也占新冠肺炎相关住院病例的最高比例，约为42%。
白宫COVID官员敦促疫苗作为德尔塔变量加倍的例子
每位COVID官员强调的接种疫苗的关键因素是德尔塔变异体，它最初是在印度发现的，而且更严重。
“随着三角洲变异体现在在全国范围内传播，并感染全世界的年轻人，他们接种疫苗比以往任何时候都更加重要，”齐恩斯说。
据福奇称，在过去的两周内，德尔塔变量已经翻了一番，达到20%以上，预计在同一时间内还会继续翻一番。它主要在年轻人中传播，跟英国一样
“德尔塔变体目前是美国消灭新冠肺炎的最大威胁。好消息:我们的疫苗对达美变异体有效。结论:我们有工具，所以让我们使用它们，粉碎疫情，”福奇说。
疾控中心主任罗谢尔·瓦伦斯基说，在中西部大部分地区，三角洲变异体已经占新感染病例的近一半。
“在过去两周内，由德尔塔变异导致的病例流行率翻了一番，刚刚超过20%，正如福奇博士刚刚显示的那样。这种变异占HHS 7区和8区所有感染的近一半。她说，指的是爱荷华州、堪萨斯州、密苏里州和内布拉斯加州，它们组成了HHS第七区，以及科罗拉多州、蒙大拿州、北达科他州、南达科他州、犹他州和怀俄明州，它们组成了HHS第八区。
瓦伦斯基甚至称，多亏了疫苗，新冠肺炎未来的每一次死亡都是可以预防的。
“它们对严重疾病和死亡几乎100%有效，这意味着几乎每一个由新冠肺炎引起的死亡都是特别悲惨的，因为几乎每一个由新冠肺炎引起的死亡，尤其是成人死亡，在这一点上是完全可以预防的，”她说。
她警告说，不接种疫苗会增加病毒变异以逃避疫苗的风险。
“我们知道我们的疫苗可以抵抗这种变异。然而，这种变异代表了一系列突变，这些突变可能导致未来的突变，从而逃避我们的疫苗。这就是为什么现在接种疫苗比以往任何时候都更重要，以阻止感染链，这种突变链可能导致更危险的变异，”瓦伦斯基说。
目前，一名白宫官员表示，该计划将重点放在已经取得的成就上，包括病例和死亡人数的大幅下降。但这一让步是拜登政府的一个失误，他经常被批评设定的疫苗接种目标不够雄心勃勃。
白宫还将宣传自己的7月4日庆祝计划——1000名第一反应人员和军事人员在南草坪观看国家广场上的传统烟花，肯定会有数千人聚集在那里。
White House concedes US won't hit Biden's 70% vaccination goal by July 4
The White House COVID response team announced Tuesday the U.S. will not hit President Joe Biden's goal of getting 70% of all adults ages 18 and older vaccinated with at least one shot by the symbolic July Fourth holiday.
Earlier this month, Biden hadcalled for a national "month of action" -- an "all-America sprint" to reach the goal and a "summer of freedom."
"We can do this," Biden said.
But on Tuesday, White HouseCOVID-19coordinator Jeff Zients conceded that the current pace of vaccinations wouldn't get the U.S. to the full goal and instead highlighted other vaccination milestones that were not previously public targets. Seventy percent of adults ages 30 and older already have had at least one shot, the White House announced, and by July Fourth, the U.S. will have vaccinated 70% of Americans 27 and older with one shot.
Those achievements, while they signal progress in the fight against COVID, don't meet the initial goal of vaccinating all adults, 18 and older, and bypass the concerning fact that the majority of cases are occurring with those under 30, an age group the COVID team acknowledged they needed to improve outreach efforts with, particularly as cases of the Delta variant rise.
"We want every American in every community to be protected and free from fear of the virus. That's why we'll keep working to vaccinate more Americans across the summer and into the fall ... we are not stopping at 70% and we're not stopping on July Fourth," Zients said at Tuesday's White House COVID response briefing.
Asked later byABC News Chief White House CorrespondentCecilia Vega what went wrong and why the White House wasn't able to reach the goal that it set, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the country has already met the goal of 70% of partially vaccinated adults among those 30-years-and-older, but that it's been harder to vaccinate communities of color, conservative communities and younger populations.
"We don't see it exactly like something went wrong, how we see it is we set a bold, ambitious goal -- something the president has done from the very beginning -- and we are expected to meet that goal. Just a couple of weeks after July 4, and in fact, at this point, as of today, we're going to be already at that point for people who are 30 years of age and older," she said.
As recently as early June, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden's chief medical adviser, remained confident that the U.S. would hit Biden's target, which the president announced on May 4.
"We want to, and we are going to hit 70% of the adult population by the Fourth of July," Fauci said on the daytime talk show "Live with Kelly and Ryan" on June 7.
As of Tuesday, 65.4% of adults ages 18 and older had at least one shot. At thecurrent pace of vaccinations, it's unlikely that number will hit 70% by next Sunday — instead, it will take a few extra weeks.
"Where the country has more work to do is particularly with 18 to 26 year olds. The reality is many younger Americans have felt like Covid-19 is not something that impacts them, and they've been less eager to get the shot," Zients said.
It will take a "few extra weeks" to get to 70% of 18-26 year olds, he said.
Approximately 11.8 million more adults need to be vaccinated with their first dose in order to reach 70% of all adults. For the U.S. to reach that by July 4, 12 days away, about 990,000 adults would need to get vaccinated each day. However, as of Tuesday, only about 392,000 adults were getting their first dose each day, on average.
At the current rate, the U.S. would fall about 7.1 million shots short of the 70% goal by July 4, hitting around 67.2% of adults partially vaccinated with at least one dose.
The reluctance among younger adults to get the vaccine, a key barrier to the Biden administration hitting its goal, will remain a challenge beyondIndependence 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 datashows, 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 urgevaccinesas 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.
