WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the rise of a more transmissible covid-19 variant in the U.S. "should cause everybody to think twice."
Speaking at the White House as he outlined his administration's summer plans to boost vaccinations, Biden said the delta variant first identified in India is now responsible for a majority of new virus cases in much of the country.
"It seems to me it should cause everybody to think twice, and it should cause reconsideration especially among young people," he said, referring to the demographic that's least at risk of negative outcomes from the virus but that's also lagging on vaccinations.
Biden said the surest way for Americans to protect themselves and their loved ones is to get vaccinated. He said the White House is working with state and local partners to support hyperlocal vaccination drives in communities with low uptake.
With the pace of U.S. vaccinations relatively flat, Biden called for employers to set up clinics at work and to offer paid time off for workers as part of a renewed push to reach tens of millions of Americans who remain unvaccinated.
"Please get vaccinated now -- it works, it's free, it's never been easier," Biden said. "It's never been more important. Do it now for yourself and the people you care about -- for your neighborhood, for your country. It sounds corny, but it's a patriotic thing to do."
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Just two days after he hosted a big White House Fourth of July celebration and declared that "America is coming back together," Biden is turning his attention to a public health conundrum: Despite his administration's aggressive push, he has not met his goal of having 70% of adults at least partially vaccinated by now, and officials have tried many techniques.
Still, the number has hit 67%. And Biden noted a different metric: By the end of the week, nearly 160 million Americans, not quite half the population, will be fully vaccinated.
More important than the national vaccination rate is the persistently low rate in some states as their residents resist entreaties, reflecting the fact that vaccine hesitancy is a product more of distrust than access.
"Our fight against this virus is not over," Biden said. "Right now, as I speak to you, millions of Americans are still unvaccinated and unprotected. And because of that, their communities are at risk; their friends are at risk. The people that they care about are at risk."
Standing in front of a backdrop that declared, "We can do this," Biden expressed urgency as the country faces potential infection spikes in the fall.
Biden stressed that the immunization drive is moving into a new phase, with mass vaccination sites closing down and with an intensified focus on daily destinations -- such as offices, churches, festivals and pharmacies -- so people can get shots when they are "just going in to get toothpaste or something else you need from a drugstore."
The president continued his pandemic balancing act between congratulating Americans on their success and warning against overconfidence. He said 2021 has been "a year of hard-fought progress" but that "we can't get complacent."
The White House is increasingly confronting the reality of just how many Americans are declining to roll up their sleeves despite a full-scale effort by the federal government.
The delta variant that's spreading quickly around the country remains a concern in areas with lower vaccination rates. Although there is not yet enough data on how all the vaccines hold up against the delta variant, research suggests that several widely used shots, including those made by Pfizer-BioNTech, are still effective against the variant after two doses.
All American adults became eligible for vaccinations on April 19, but daily vaccination numbers have fallen precipitously since they peaked in April. Providers were administering about 870,000 doses per day on average as of Tuesday, marking about a 74% decrease from the peak of 3.38 million reported April 13.
And beyond the issues with the vaccination campaign, progress in halting the spread of the coronavirus appears to have stalled nationally. After a sharp drop in virus cases, the average number of new daily cases across the country seems to have leveled off, though it remains close to the lowest point since testing became widely available.
Biden underscored the country's overall progress in his remarks Tuesday, but pockets of outbreaks remain. In some parts of Arkansas, Missouri and Texas, for instance, there has been a sharp rise in cases.
Biden outlined five areas of concentration for his administration, all avenues that it has already pursued:
• Targeted, community-by-community, door-to-door outreach to get the remaining Americans vaccinated.
• A fresh push to get vaccine doses to primary care doctors.
• A boost in efforts to get vaccine doses to pediatricians and other providers who serve younger people so adolescents age 12 to 18 can get shots -- before they return to school or as they get physicals in advance of playing fall sports.
• Expanded mobile clinic efforts.
• The workplace initiatives, trying to create opportunities for more people to get vaccinated at their jobs.
In some ways, the administration's latest efforts are simply an escalation of the vaccination campaigns that officials have been operating for months, particularly the reliance on trusted local leaders. Biden on Tuesday acknowledged the limits of what the federal government can do, appealing to the collective action of the American public.
"The bottom line is, my administration is doing everything we can to lead a whole-of-government response at the federal, state and local levels to defeat the pandemic," he said. "We need everyone to do their part."
The decision by many people to decline the shots has potential consequences for the country's return to normal. Unvaccinated people have a greater chance of getting infected with the virus, giving it an opportunity to mutate to a more transmissible form, or one that can sicken people who have been inoculated.
As the delta variant has spread, the World Health Organization has reiterated its recommendation that all people, including those who are fully vaccinated, wear masks to slow the spread of the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not revised its guidance for Americans that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in most settings.
It is unclear what else the administration can do. Public health officials know that the last stretch of any vaccination campaign is the most arduous -- a point that Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden's top medical adviser for the pandemic, made in a recent interview.
"The last mile is always the hardest," Fauci said, adding, "We're actually on the last quarter-mile."
Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press; by Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Michael D. Shear of The New York Times; and by Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Tyler Pager of The Washington Post.