Over 52 million coronavirus vaccines have been administered in the U.S. since the rollout of vaccinations began, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to February 14 CDC data, 70,057,800 doses of the vaccines have been delivered in the U.S. Of those, 52,884,356 million have been administered across the country, although a state-by-state tally, as noted by Bloomberg, shows the U.S. nearing 54 million doses administered.
Of the over 52 million doses administered in the U.S., more than 8.1 million have been administered in California, over 4.1 million in Texas, over 3.4 million in Florida, and over 2.9 million in New York state.
According to the CDC, 14,077,440 individuals nationwide have received two doses of the vaccine.
While states continue to prioritize high-risk populations and healthcare workers, Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief adviser on the coronavirus, predicted that it will be “open season” for vaccinations come April.
“As we get into March and April, the number of available doses will allow for much more of a mass vaccination approach,” he said during an appearance on the Today show last week.
“I would imagine by the time we get to April, that will be what I would call, for better wording, ‘open season,’” he continued. “Namely, virtually everybody and anybody in any category could start to get vaccinated.”
Fauci has said that the U.S. needs to have 70-85 percent of the population vaccinated in order to reach a level of pre-pandemic normalcy, although he has continued to warn that the U.S. cannot pull back on public health measures yet, particularly due to the virus variants.
“The only way a virus mutates (is) if it can replicate. So if you vaccinate people and double down on public health measures and keep the level of viral dynamics low we will not have an easy evolution into mutations,” he told CNN. “That’s something that people really need to understand.”
“The way you stop those mutations: Get vaccinated and abide by the public health measures,” he added.