Two weeks after becoming eligible, more than 2.6 million children ages 5 to 11 will have received their first COVID-19 vaccine shot by the end of the day Wednesday, federal health officials said.


What You Need To Know

  • Two weeks after becoming eligible, more than 2.6 million children ages 5 to 11 will have received their first COVID-19 vaccine shot by the end of the day Wednesday, federal health officials said.

  • White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients added that the rate of vaccinations has been accelerating, with 1.7 million children being inoculated in the past week — about twice as many as the previous week

  • The U.S. vaccination campaign hit some other milestones Wednesday: 80% of Americans 12 and older — nearly 226 million people — have received at least one vaccine dose, and 31 million individuals have gotten their booster shots

  • Meanwhile as of Wednesday, the U.S. has delivered 250 million doses to 110 other countries

That number accounts for nearly 10% of the 28 million kids in that age group.

White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients added that the rate of vaccinations has been accelerating, with 1.7 million children being inoculated in the past week — about twice as many as the previous week. 

There are now 30,000 locations administering vaccines to children, up from 20,000 after the first week.

“So in addition to being safe, effective and free, vaccines for kids are readily available and convenient,” Zients said during a news briefing.

The U.S. vaccination campaign hit some other milestones Wednesday: 80% of Americans 12 and older — nearly 226 million people — have received at least one vaccine dose, and 31 million individuals have gotten their booster shots.

Meanwhile as of Wednesday, the U.S. has delivered 250 million doses to 110 other countries. 

“This is a remarkable achievement, more doses delivered by the United States than every other country in the world combined,” said Zients, who added that for every dose administered in the U.S., three are being donated to other nations.

“We know vaccinations are the best way to accelerate our path out of the pandemic,” Zients added. “And taking a look at the data, we know the president's plan is producing results. … We know there's more work to do, but these milestones represent critical progress and show we are on the right track in our fight against the virus.”

The Biden administration also announced Wednesday it is making billions of dollars available to drugmakers to expand their production capacity by an additional 1 billion doses a year. The goal is to provide more shots to share with the world.

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