Pennsylvania becomes 10th state to hit Biden’s vaccine goal

Pennsylvania has become the 10th state to hit President Biden’s goal of having at least 70 percent of the adult population receive at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Biden has pushed for the U.S. population to hit the goal by July 4.

White House senior COVID-19 adviser Andy Slavitt shared the news in a tweet on Wednesday, saying Pennsylvania joined nine other states in hitting the goal.

Other states that have reached the goal are Vermont, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey, Rhode Island and New Mexico.

Another 10 states are close to hitting the goal, according to Slavitt, as they have more than 65 percent of the population who have gotten one shot of the vaccine.

VACCINATION UPDATE: Congratulations to Pennsylvania, the 10th state to meet the goal of 70% of their adult population with at least 1 vaccine.

VT
HI
NH
MA
CT
ME
NJ
RI
NM
PA

Another 10 are above 65%.

— Andy Slavitt (@aslavitt46) May 26, 2021

While 7 in 10 Pennsylvania adults have received at least one vaccine shot, more than half of all adults in the state are fully vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.

Biden announced his goal in early May while recognizing that as vaccination rates slowed down the administration would be focusing on those who are more hesitant about getting the COVID-19 shot.

“As we anticipated, the pace of vaccinations is slowing now that the majority of American adults have already gotten their first shot,” Biden said earlier this month. “Soon we’ll have reached the adults who are most eager to get vaccinated and at that point this effort will shift to a new phase.”

Republicans have been found in polls to be the most hesitant to get the vaccine.

“Two of our vaccines were authorized under a prior administration — Republican administration,” Biden noted earlier this month.

States are offering incentives such as lotteries for those who get vaccinated.

The CDC has also announced that fully vaccinated individuals no longer have to wear masks in most indoor settings.