More than 72 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 120 million have received at least one shot as of Monday, officials said at a White House COVID-19 briefing.

“We’re administering shots at a record pace and are adding millions more each week,” said White House COVID-19 adviser Andy Slavitt.

In the last seven days alone, the U.S. has reported administering 22 million shots, or 8% of the adult population, at an average of more than 3 million shots per day. On Saturday, the U.S. set a record when it reported administering 4.6 million shots in a single day.

By April 19, the U.S. will have met several of the goals President Biden laid out for his first 100 days in office. Slavitt announced the opening of a new federally run mass vaccination site in Central Point, Ore., Monday — the newest of 36 such sites that will be up and running by next week with a combined capability of administering 124,000 shots per day. 

The U.S. is also on track to increase the number of pharmacies that are able to provide vaccinations, from 30,000 that are now participating in the federal pharmacy program to 40,000 by April 19.

“All of this work will help meet the president’s goal of ensuring that at least 90% of Americans have a vaccine site within five miles of where they live by this coming Monday,” Slavitt said.

The White House is also working with Michigan and other states that are currently experiencing “troubling metrics” to ensure they order the maximum number of shots available to them. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is sending response teams to help with case investigations and contact tracking efforts, and, in Michigan, FEMA has deployed personnel to help administer shots.

The increase in U.S. vaccinations comes as the country is experiencing an uptick in COVID-19 cases. On Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported a seven-day average of 66,000 cases — a 3% increase over the prior seven-day period — along with 75,000 cases Saturday and 81,000 Sunday. 

Daily hospital admissions have also increased to 5,300 for the most recent seven-day average — a 6% increase compared with the prior seven-day period. Deaths, however, have fallen to 684 per day — a 5.2% decrease.

While 28% of U.S. adults are now fully vaccinated and 46% have received at least their first shot, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned about the possibility of "breakthrough" infections of COVID-19 after being vaccinated — though he noted that breakthrough infections happen regardless of the illness or vaccine.

“No vaccine is 100% effective, which means you’ll always see breakthrough infections regardless of the efficacy of your vaccine,” Dr. Fauci said. 

Fauci noted Mayo Clinic data which found just 4 of 8,041 fully vaccinated people got COVID-19. The low incidence of breakthrough infections was similar to reported COVID cases among U.S. healthcare workers in California and Texas, which found that just 7 of 4,167 and 4 of 8,121 fully vaccinated people got COVID, respectively.

A breakthrough infection or vaccine failure, Fauci said, “is when a person contracts an infection despite being vaccinated against it. We see this with all vaccines in clinical trials and in the real world.”

Fauci noted that influenza vaccines are only 40-60% effective on a good year, and because the flu mutates so rapidly, breakthrough infections are possible.

"If you get vaccinated, no doubt, you're less likely to get the flu," he added. "But even if you do get the flu and get sick, vaccination can reduce the severity and duration of illness, and could help get you out of trouble."

During the 2019-2020 influenza season, the flu vaccine was 40 to 60% effective and just 52% of people received it, he said. Still, the CDC estimated the flu vaccine prevented 7.5 million illnesses, 3.7 million medical visits, 105,000 hospitalizations and 6,300 deaths.

Noting that the country has administered more than 166 million vaccinations of the 200 million President Biden set as his goal during his first 100 days in office, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced the release of two new reports “that underscore the need to address health inequities in our country, including in our vaccination efforts.”

One of the reports, detailing trends in racial and ethnic disparities in COVID hospitalizations across the country, looked at data from March through December 2020 and confirmed the CDC’s preliminary findings. People from racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by COVID and at higher risk for hospitalization. 

Hispanic and Latino individuals accounted for the highest proportion of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, Dr. Walensky said, adding that the largest disparities occurred early in the pandemic. Disparities have become less pronounced over time.

The second new CDC report looked at emergency department visits for COVID-19 from October to December 2020. Data from 13 states showed Hispanic and American Indian and Alaskan Native individuals were 1.7 times more likely and Black individuals were 1.4 times more likely to seek care in emergency departments for COVID-19 related illness in comparison to white individuals, Walensky said.

Black and African Ameicans make up about 12% of the U.S. population but are just 8.4% of those receiving at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the CDC. Individuals identifying as Hispanic or Latino are 18% of the U.S. population but make up 10.7% of those receiving vaccinations.