US reaches 70 per cent vaccine milestone for adults, a month behind Biden's goal

At least 70 per cent of the US adults have had at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, says data published by the CDC. This is about a month behind President Joe Biden's Fourth of July goal.

Dr. Paul Offit, a voting member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, in a recent interview said, "We need to have at least 80% of the population vaccinated to truly have some form of herd immunity".

He added, "This is a fairly contagious virus".

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Natasha Bhuyan, a family physician with One Medical in Phoenix, said that while the 70 per cent nationwide mark is noteworthy, local communities with lower vaccination rates are still a matter of worry.

She said, "Even if America reaches 70 per cent or 75 per cent, if we continue to have ZIP codes and neighbourhoods at 40 or 50 per cent, they will continue to be at risk of having outbreaks and being hot spots".

Meanwhile, a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of official US state data, less than 1% of fully vaccinated people have experienced a breakthrough infection lately, a CNN report said.

The US federal government has been reporting data about breakthrough infections, which result in hospitalisation or death.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest data says, less than 0.004 per cent people, who have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus experienced a breakthrough case resulting in hospitalisation, while less than 0.001 per cent died. Out of more than 163 million fully vaccinated people in the US, it is about 6,600 severe cases. The analysis shows breakthrough infections are extremely rare.