U.S. administering average of 1.7 million vaccine doses per day

The seven-day average of coronavirus vaccines administered in the U.S. has reached 1.7 million per day, White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said at a Wednesday briefing.

Why it matters: That pace puts President Biden on course for meeting his goal of 100 million doses administered in his first 100 days in office, which would land on April 29. 54 million vaccine shots have been administered thus far, and 5% of Americans have received both doses.

If the federal government — and states handling daily vaccine operations — can maintain this course of 1.7 million shots per day, 80% herd immunity could be reached by Nov. 17, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Speeding up the rate of vaccinations is key in order to get life back to some semblance of normal and prevent potentially vaccine-resistant variants from becoming dominant in the U.S., per the Post.