WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the U.S. is on pace to miss President Joe Biden’s goal of partially vaccinating 70% of American adults by July 4.
The CDC’s tracker shows 63.5% of American adults have gotten at least partially vaccinated, though the growth rate has slowed to a little more than 1% per week.
The seven day average of first doses administered is now 426,000, the lowest since January 6.
Only 51.5% of all Americans have gotten partially vaccinated, though that includes children under the age of 12 that are currently ineligible.
Last week, Biden announced a “month of action” to pick up the pace to meet his goal.
The White House said Biden’s “month of action” will continue to use public and private-sector partnerships to encourage Americans to roll up their sleeves, drawing in businesses, colleges, celebrities and community organizations to help spread the word about the benefits of vaccination and to encourage them to get shots.
Additionally, the White House is partnering with early childhood centers such as KinderCare, Learning Care Group, Bright Horizons and more than 500 YMCAs to provide free childcare coverage for Americans looking for shots or needing assistance while recovering from side effects.
The administration is also launching a new partnership to bring vaccine education and even doses to more than a thousand Black-owned barbershops and beauty salons, building on a successful pilot program in Maryland.
Anheuser-Busch announced Wednesday morning that it would “buy Americans 21+ a round of beer” once Biden’s 70% goal is met through a promotional giveaway on its website that will provide $5 credits to the first 200,000 people to respond when the nation reaches the vaccine threshold.
They’re the latest vaccine sweeteners, building on other incentives like cash giveaways, sports tickets and paid leave, to keep up the pace of vaccinations.
Other new incentives include a $2 million commitment from DoorDash to provide gift cards to community health centers to be used to drive people to get vaccinated. CVS launched a sweepstakes with prizes including free cruises and Super Bowl tickets. Major League Baseball will host on-site vaccine clinics and ticket giveaways at games. And Kroger will give $1 million to a vaccinated person each week this month and dozens of people free groceries for the year.
Aiming to make injections even more convenient, Biden announced that many pharmacies are extending their hours this month — and thousands will remain open overnight on Fridays.
“All over the world people are desperate to get a shot that every American can get at their neighborhood drugstore,” Biden said.
Sydney Kalich and The Associated Press contributed to this report.