The U.S. will increase the number of vaccine doses it sends out across the country to 27 million next week, officials announced Wednesday, a more than 300% increase from January.

What You Need To Know

  • The U.S. will begin shipping 27 million doses of vaccine per week across the country, starting next week

  • The doses go to states, tribes and territories as well as federal vaccination sites, pharmacies and community health centers

  • About 2.5 million people are being vaccinated per day, according to the latest average of data

  • Still, officials warned against relaxing virus restrictions and COVID fatigue, calling this a critical point of the pandemic as cases level off and stop consistently declining

Two-thirds of the shots will go to states, tribes and territories, while the rest will go to other federal channels, including the pharmacy program, community health centers, mass vaccination sites and more.

On average, 2.5 million people are now getting the shot per day, and 83 million people have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to data from the a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

On Wednesday, White House COVID-19 Adviser Andy Slavitt also noted that 70% of Americans over 65 years old have gotten at least one dose of vaccine, the group most vulnerable to severe COVID-19 and death.

“We have more work to do,” Slavitt said. “We intend to keep up this progress until all Americans are vaccinated.”

President Biden has ordered states and other jurisdictions to open vaccines to anyone 16 and older by May 1, though many states have announced they’ll broaden eligibility before then.

The vaccination effort is the key to the president’s goal of getting the U.S. “closer to normal” by the July 4 holiday.

Already, vaccinated Americans can gather in small groups with other vaccinated people and with unvaccinated people who aren’t high risk, the CDC has advised.

Meanwhile, when asked if the country was “turning the corner,” top health officials warned Wednesday that all Americans should stay vigilant and remain cautious, highlighting this as a critical point of the pandemic.

“My response is really more like ‘We are at the corner.’ Whether or not we're going to be turning that corner still remains to be seen,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, said, noting the fact that case numbers have leveled off instead of continuing to decline.

“We do have a lot of challenges in front of us with regards to the high level of daily infections, yesterday being 54,974,” he added. “When you're at that level, I don't think you can declare victory and say you've turned the corner.”

The CDC still strongly discourages travel, including for vaccinated Americans, due to the fact that spikes in travel often result in spikes in cases and deaths. Members of the COVID-19 response team expressed concern about the images of large spring break crowds this week.

“I emphasize how we need to hang in there for just a little while longer,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. “We can see a time in the next couple of months where we will have a lot more people vaccinated, and we will really be able to blunt infection rates.”