50% Americans are fully vaccinated against Covid, say White House officials

White House COVID-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahpar on Friday informed that 50 per cent of Americans are now fully vaccinated.

More than 8,21,000 doses have also been administered in the US including 5,65,000 newly vaccinated people, Shahpar said in a tweet.

"Seven day average of newly vaccinated is up 11 per cent from last week and 44 per cent over past 2 weeks. 50 per cent of Americans (all ages) are now fully vaccinated. Keep going US," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is yet to decide whether foreign visitors to the US with a Russian or Chinese COVID vaccine will be eligible for entry under a policy that would mandate vaccines for foreigners entering the country.

A few days back, the White House had also informed that the country will maintain existing travel restrictions "at this point" due to concerns over the highly transmissible Covid-19 Delta variant and the rising number of US coronavirus cases.

A spike in cases caused by the emergent Delta variant of the virus has caused lawmakers to begin reconsidering new public health policies as it relates to vaccines, masks, and social distancing.