The seven-day rolling average for daily vaccinations nationwide is currently at 1.2 million. More than 1 million COVID-19 vaccine shots have been handed out daily in US since Biden's inauguration
* President says he is confident of reaching 1.5 million doses a day 'within weeks' and that country can be 'well on our way to herd immunity' by summer
* But warns 'we will still be dealing with COVID in the fall' and repeats warning of hitting 600,000 deaths
* The seven-day rolling average for daily vaccinations nationwide is currently at 1.2 million - putting 1.5 million apparently well within range
* So far the US has administered 22.4 million vaccine doses, which is 54 percent of the 41.4 million shots distributed to states by the federal government. Currently 6.8 percent of the population has been vaccinated
* It comes as COVID-19 hospitalizations fell to the lowest levels since mid-December and states reported a sharp drop in new cases and deaths
* On Sunday, there were 1,769 deaths and 130,485 new cases recorded. Just over 110,000 people were hospitalized with the virus
* To assist with the rollout, Google has just announced that it will offer up some of its US offices, car parks and open spaces as vaccination centers
* Google will add COVID-19 vaccine location information to both Maps and Search to help people find more information on where and when they can get a jab
Joe Biden said he believed that the U.S. will be able to offer vaccines to every American who wants one 'in spring,' Monday, amid questions over how ambitious his rollout for the shots is.
He also increased his goal of 1 million vaccines a day to 1.5 million Monday, predicting his administration would reach that point 'soon' - even though it had been surpassed already on the day he was inaugurated.
And the president also predicted that the U.S. would be 'well on our way' to herd immunity by the summer, but warned that Americans will be dealing with the coronavirus pandemic into the fall.
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Update #1: Biden more bullish on vaccines, open to 1.5M daily shot goal (AP)
Update #2: Biden says anyone who wants vaccine may be able to get it by spring (The Hill)
WNU Editor: The Biden White House kinda screwed up last week with this announcement, so they had to present a different and bolder goal .... President Biden Promises 'Wartime Effort' To Beat Covid But His Target Plan Is Only 10 Per Cent More Than What President Trump Had Already Achieved (January 21, 2021).
But today's announcement of 1.5 million doses a day is also not a surprise. The vaccine makers are already ramping up production, with projections made only a month ago from the industry itself that 200 million Americans will be vaccinated by May 31 ....
.... Bernstein analysts said they expect 200 million Americans to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus by May 31, and that the people remaining at that point will either have refused the vaccine or found themselves ineligible (2021 forecast: COVID-19 vaccine rollouts: What's next for Pfizer and Moderna's mRNA shots, and which vaccines might come next? (Fierce Pharma)).
