We'll go 'door to door' to get the rest of the US vaccinated: Biden will launch neighborhood campaigns in unvaccinated areas with HALF of US seeing infection spikes and the Indian Delta variant behind 26% of cases
President Joe Biden on Tuesday will call for people to go door-to-door to spread the word about COVID vaccines after he fell short of his July 4 vaccination targets and cases tied to the Delta variant are on the rise.
Biden will speak about the pandemic from the White House after he failed to hit his goal of having 70 percent of adults partially vaccinated by Independence Day. At least 67% of adult Americans have received one shot.
Meanwhile cases tied to the Delta variant are at 26 percent as cases are on the rise in half the states.
In his remarks, the president will described targeted efforts of 'door to door outreach to get the remaining Americans vaccinated,' according to a White House official.
He will also push adolescents ages 12 to 18 can get vaccinated as they go for 'back to school' checks ups or get ready for fall sports.
The White House official also pointed out that, by the end of the week, the U.S. will be nearing 160 million people fully vaccinated. Biden had set the 160 million mark as another July 4th goal.
The White House has been on a push to get shots in arms as several states in the South and South West are hovering around the 50 percent mark and COVID cases were up in nearly half of U.S. states, a USA TODAY analysis of John Hopkins data shows.
Alaska and Arkansas more than doubled cases in the past week while South Carolina and Kansas are up more than 50 percent.
In Missouri, the number of hospitalized patients jumped by nearly 30 percent over the Fourth of July weekend.
All five states have among the lowest vaccination rates in America - fully vaccinating less than 44 percent of their total populations - which is below the national average.
Meanwhile the Delta variant is now responsible for 26% of cases and has been detected in all 50 states, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
President Joe Biden will call for people to go door-to-door to spread the word about COVID vaccines
Just a month ago it made up 3 percent of cases.
The Delta variant, which originated in India and is believed to be both more transmissible and more virulent than other strains, has caused concern about health officials of regional outbreaks in states with low vaccination rates.
The administration has launched an all-hands on deck effort to get shots in arms, dispatching, President Biden, Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff on tours to get the vaccination rate increased.
Vaccines are strongly effective against the variant.
'The overwhelming proportion of people who get into trouble are the unvaccinated. Which is the reason why we say this is really entirely avoidable and preventable,' Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Meet the Press on Sunday.
Biden commemorated the Fourth of July on Sunday by lauding Americans' 'independence from COVID-19' and promised a 'bright future' as he pushed for the unvaccinated to get the jab.
'America is coming back together,' the president said during his address from the South Lawn of the White House.
Many states where COVID-19 cases are rising have fully vaccinated less than 45% of their populations - which is below the national average
'Today we're closer than ever to declaring our independence from the deadly virus,' Biden said, but struck a serious tone as he warned that there is still a far way to go.
As Biden made his remarks, he was faced with the reality of missing two big goals in the vaccination efforts – getting 160 million Americans fully vaccinated and making sure 70 per cent of adults received at least one dose by July 4, 2021.
Biden repeated his claim that getting the jab is 'the most patriotic thing' an American can do.
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