ATLANTA — President Joe Biden will fall short of his COVID-19 vaccination goal by July 4.
In March, the president set a goal to have at least 70% of American adults vaccinated with their first dose.
“It’s only the beginning. We’ll keep going. We’ll keep educating. We’ll keep getting people fully vaccinated,” Dr. Frita Fisher with Emory University said.
She’s still stressing the importance of getting the COVID-19 vaccine following the same calls from the White House.
“Getting vaccinated is our key to ending this pandemic,” Dr. Fisher said.
She also said she’s optimistic as more people continue to get vaccinated even though the United States won’t meet President Joe Biden’s vaccination goal.
A White House official said on Tuesday it will take a few extra weeks to vaccinate 70% of adults 18 to 26.
That’s why Congressman Hank Johnson hosted a vaccination event Saturday aimed at drawing young people to get vaccinated. On Saturday, vaccinating more than 20 people in Stonecrest.
“We’re going to where they are. Those are the barbershops, the beauty salons. We’re going to make it easy for them to get the vaccine,” he said.
Doctor Cecil Bennett, the Medical Director for Newnan Family Medicine Associates, said although we may fall short of the president’s vaccination goal by next weekend, he thinks other factors could be in our favor.
“Even though we may fall short of the vaccination number, I think combining that number again with those with natural immunity puts us a lot closer to herd immunity and puts us in a much safer place,” he said.
Dr. Fisher said we’ve already seen the vaccine work so she’s confident more people will keep getting vaccinated.
“Hospitalizations are down. Deaths are down. Cases are down,” she said.
Dr. Bennett said you should check with your doctor to get tested and see if you have the antibodies to protect you from COVID-19.