White House urges Americans to get vaccinated as B-117 variant surpasses 44% of all cases
Just a few days before every adult in the U.S. will become eligible to get a coronavirus vaccine on Monday, the White House stressed how important those shots are to beating back the pandemic -- especially in recent weeks, as the more transmissible B-117 variant has rapidly become the most dominant and new cases hover near 70,000 per day.
"All roads to defeating the pandemic go through the path of successfully and quickly vaccinating the country," White House COVID adviser Andy Slavitt said at a White House briefing on Friday.
The good news is the U.S. has an ample supply of vaccines, even with the recent pause of Johnson & Johnson vaccines. More than one-third of the total population has already gotten one shot, while 80% of the highest-risk demographic, adults 65 and older, has received one shot. The remaining states that haven't opened eligibility to all adults will do so on April 19.
"I am proud of the progress we've made," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at the briefing. "But we must continue to get many more people vaccinated."
That's because vaccinations are still nowhere near where they need to be to hit "herd immunity," and quickly-spreading, potentially deadlier variants such as the B-117, first discovered in the U.K., have taken hold in the U.S.