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President Joe Biden on Friday celebrated that 300 million COVID-19 vaccine shots have been administered since he took office 150 days ago.
He addressed that milestone in a speech on Friday afternoon, even as he looked on track to fall short of his goal of getting at least one jab in 70% of U.S. adults by the Fourth of July.
“We’re heading into, God willing, the summer of joy, the summer of freedom,” the president said. “On July 4, we’re going to celebrate our independence from the virus.”
A total of 316 million shots have been administered when including doses in December and early January, before Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration. That’s according to a tracker run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC tracker also says 65% of adults in the U.S. have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
During his mostly upbeat remarks on Friday, Biden also offered some warnings, including on a highly infectious strain of COVID.
“The Delta variant can cause more people to die in areas where people have not been vaccinated,” he said.
U.S. stocks
SPX,
traded sharply lower Friday as investors digested remarks from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard, who said he expects an interest-rate hike in 2022.
