White House: 75 percent of adults have at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose

Three-fourths of U.S. adults have been vaccinated with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, a White House official announced on Tuesday.

White House COVID-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahpar marked the milestone in a tweet, saying the country “just hit” 75 percent of adults with at least one shot.

He said that from Sunday through Tuesday, 1.51 million doses have been administered, with 681,000 newly vaccinated and 105,000 additional doses, while noting that there is “as usual, lower reporting over the holiday weekend,” referring to Labor Day.

The U.S. reached the 75 percent threshold about a month after hitting 70 percent. Previously, President Biden had hoped to achieve the 70 percent mark by July 4.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s online tracker, last updated Saturday, showed that 74.8 percent of U.S. adults received at least one dose and 64 percent were fully vaccinated.

The rate of vaccinations has picked up in recent weeks as the highly transmissible delta variant spreads throughout the country, leading to increased case counts, hospitalizations and deaths.

The U.S. administered more than 939,000 vaccine doses on Saturday after a steady rise since mid-July, when the pace was closer to 500,000 a day, according to Our World in Data.

Still, only slightly more than half of the overall U.S. population is fully vaccinated: 53 percent are fully vaccinated and 62 percent have received at least one dose.

Health officials have repeatedly highlighted that the overwhelming majority of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths have occurred among unvaccinated people.

The delta variant has led to more than 97 percent of counties nationwide having “high” or “substantial” transmission as of Friday.