Almost half of Americans 65 and older have gotten first COVID shot

Nearly half of Americans age 65 and older have gotten their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, the White House said Friday.

“In the time since the president has taken office, we’ve now doubled the pace of vaccinations and are rapidly on our way to vaccinating many of the people most at risk of dying or being hospitalized from COVID-19,” Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to President Biden’s coronavirus response team, said during a virtual press briefing.

Slavitt said almost one in five adults and nearly half of Americans over 65 have received their first shot of the two-dose vaccines currently on the market — while noting that six weeks ago, only 8 percent of that group had gotten jabbed.

“That’s important, because people over 65 account for nearly 80 percent of COVID-19 deaths,” Slavitt said.

Additionally, nearly 60 percent of people over 75 have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 75 percent of those who live in long-term-care facilities have gotten their first shot, according to Slavitt.

More than 70.5 million doses have been administered to Americans since inoculation efforts kicked off in mid-December, according to the latest data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The data shows that 47.1 million people in the US have received “one or more” doses.

Slavitt said more than 50 million shots have been administered since Biden took office.

“Fifty million shots in 37 days,” Slavitt said. “That’s ahead of our target even with the setbacks we faced during the recent winter storm.”