By Mike Hayes, Melissa Macaya, Melissa Mahtani, Meg Wagner and Veronica Rocha, CNN
From CNN's Naomi Thomas
Ensemble forecasts published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention project that newly reported Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths will likely continue to decrease over the next four weeks.
The forecast predicts a total of 601,000 to 614,000 US Covid-19 deaths by June 26.
The previous ensemble forecast, published May 26, projected up to 606,000 US Covid-19 deaths by June 19.
From CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Jeremy Diamond
As vaccination demands slow in the US, President Biden today will issue a rallying cry to get people vaccinated against Covid-19 ahead of his Fourth of July deadline.
Nearly 51% of the US population has received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, and nearly 41% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
Biden announced in May he wants at least 70% of American adults to have one shot by the Fourth of July.
According to a White House official, Biden will deem June "a national month of action to get more people vaccinated by July 4."
Biden will detail efforts to get people vaccinated, "including by mobilizing national organizations, community-based and faith-based partners, businesses, social media influencers, celebrities, athletes, colleges, young people, and thousands of volunteers," the official added.
Biden is delivering remarks at 1:15 p.m. ET on the state of the US vaccination campaign, touting the progress that has been made and the work that remains to meet his July 4th goal.
From CNN’s James Briggs
The current state of coronavirus data in the UK shows encouraging signs of improvement, according a member of the government’s vaccine taskforce, John Bell.
He called on people to strike a “balance” in monitoring Covid-19 spread and that “if we scamper down a rabbit hole every time we see a new variant, we are going to spend a long time huddled away.”
On Tuesday, the UK recorded zero coronavirus deaths for the first time since the start of the pandemic. However, there is still some concern about the spread in the UK of the more transmissible variant first identified in India.
Bell said he believes the current rollout of vaccines will be “good and effective.” With the main aim now to “get more people vaccinated down in the younger age groups” in a bid to stop transmission. However, he warned that while the vaccines are good for all of the variants today “that’s not guaranteed forever” and could “come back to bite us."
Some leading scientists within the UK have called for a delay in the last stage of the government's lockdown easing roadmap in England, which will see the removal of legal limits on social distancing. A final decision on this is expected to be reached on June 14.
When looking to the future Bell said “this disease is here to stay, probably forever” but he called for more progress in suppressing the virus around the world. Warning that without action “we are just going to sit here and get slammed by repeated variants.”
“Most of the world doesn’t have vaccines, they don’t have the disease under control at all,” Bell added, as he encouraged other countries to do their part “to get more of these vaccines out into the developing world.”
From CNN's Deidre McPhillips
Twelve states have now reached the Biden administration’s goal to vaccinate 70% of adults with at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine by July 4, according to data published Tuesday by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
California and Maryland join Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont in reaching that benchmark.
Overall, 296,404,240 total doses of Covid-19 have been reported administered, about 81% of the 366,317,045 total doses delivered.
The CDC did not update its Covid-19 data tracker on Monday, but about 1.5 million doses have been reported administered since Sunday, for a seven-day average of about 1.2 million doses per day.
About 168.5 million people – nearly 51% of the US population – have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine. About 136 million people – nearly 41% of the population – is fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.
Note: Data published by the CDC may be delayed, and doses may not have been reported on the date administered.
