Biden's vaccine marathon hits roadblocks with July 4th goal now in doubt
Vaccine holdouts are becoming a larger concern among health officials
Grand Central Station offering on-the-go COVID-19 vaccinations
Effort is part of Biden's plan to have 160 Americans fully vaccinated by July 4; Fox News' Lydia Hu reports
The vaccine marathon is hitting roadblocks. Plummeting vaccine rates are putting President Biden's goal of getting at least one shot into the arms of 70% of Americans by July 4 at risk.
With less than a month to go, it’s not clear that the country will meet the deadline, according to FOX Business’s Lydia Hu. At the current 7-day average pace of vaccination rates, the U.S. could be about 10 million short of Biden’s 160 million benchmark. The latest tally stands at 137.1 million, with 63.8% of adult Americans having received at least one shot.
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The nationwide slowdown has legions of health workers and volunteers doing whatever it takes to get more people vaccinated— whether it’s showing up at stores, drive-thrus, train stations or parks.
One pop-up vaccine site at Grand Central Terminal is offering the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccines to reach commuters going into Manhattan.
"There’s just a group out there that either they work late or they’re in a location where they don’t have pharmacies or other large vaccination centers near them," Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chief of Safety and Security Patrick Warren told FOX Business. "This gives them the opportunity as they come into work to get the shot."
Warren said that it’s the next tier of people that officials are focusing on in order to reach the herd immunity effect.
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"It’s part of an effort to make these shots more available in some unique places," Lydia Hu told FOX Business’s "Cavuto: Coast to Coast." Other vaccine endeavors led by public health officials have tapped into casinos, ballparks, abandoned shopping malls, among others.
Accessibility is only one issue slowing down the nationwide vaccination campaign. Vaccine holdouts are becoming a larger concern among health officials. A recent Gallup Poll shows that about one-third of Americans have no immediate plans to get vaccinated anytime soon. Of those not planning to get vaccinated, 78% are unlikely to change their minds, with 51% "not likely at all" to reconsider plans.
Concerns over side effects and misinformation are fueling the hesitation.
To make matters worse, millions of Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses are set to expire this month, which means hundreds of thousands of doses could go to waste.
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Despite the drawbacks, 13 states have already met the 70% threshold, including Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, California, Hawaii and Washington. Only six states are still below 50% including Alabama and Tennessee.
"If we are going to meet these nationwide goals that means just about every American adult that’s open to getting a vaccine will have to get one," Hu said.