More than 50% of Americans got at least one Covid vaccine shot as U.S. cases fall further

More than 50% of the U.S. population has received at least one Covid vaccine shot, federal data shows, as nationwide case counts continue to fall.

Moderna on Tuesday applied for full Food and Drug Administration approval of its Covid-19 vaccine. Surveys have shown that FDA approval could inspire more people to get the vaccine, which is currently on the U.S. market under an emergency use authorization.

The seven-day average of daily new infections fell below 20,000 on Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, though many states did not report data due to the Memorial Day holiday.

U.S. share of the population vaccinated

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that 50.5% of Americans have received at least one dose and about 41% are fully vaccinated.

Among those 18 and older, roughly 63% have received one dose or more. President Joe Biden has set a goal of getting that figure to 70% by the Fourth of July.

U.S. Covid cases

Twenty-five states and territories did not publish Covid data on Monday due to the holiday, according to Hopkins, bringing the seven-day average of daily infections to below 20,000 for the first time since the early days of the pandemic.

Cases may tick upward in the coming days as states report backlogged data from the holiday.

Prior to the holiday weekend, U.S. case counts had been trending downward for weeks.

U.S. vaccine shots administered

The latest seven-day average of vaccines administered, which is also impacted by the lack of holiday weekend data, sits at 1.3 million shots administered.

U.S. Covid deaths

The latest seven-day average of U.S. Covid deaths is 607, Hopkins data shows, which reflects the absence of Memorial Day reporting for many states and territories.

The latest trend in the daily U.S. death count is further complicated by audits in which state health departments will attribute a batch of previously unreported cases or deaths to a single day, even if those occurred previously. Oklahoma and Maryland last week each added hundreds of deaths to their pandemic totals, all of which were reported for a single day.