White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients says the pandemic is closer than ever before to being under control.
The Biden administration’s priority now is to get more Americans vaccinated, Zients said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I would say we are turning the corner,” he said, Reuters reported.
As of Monday, roughly 46% of all Americans have received at least one vaccine dose, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Reaching Biden’s goal of 70% of adults having at least one shot by July 4 could help the country reach a sustainable low level of infections, Zients said, Reuters reported.
Zients also defended the latest guidelines from the CDC, which recommends that fully vaccinated people still wear masks in public at crowded outdoor events or while indoors with others who may not have been vaccinated.
“We’re getting there,” he said, Reuters reported. “And the light at the end of the tunnel is brighter and brighter. Let’s keep up our guard.”
So far, the U.S. has administered roughly 260 million of its 330 million available vaccine doses, with more than 114 million people fully vaccinated nationwide, according to the CDC.
