June 3 coronavirus news

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on ABC’s Good Morning America Thursday that she expects the country will reach President Joe Biden’s goal of 70% of US adults receiving one shot of Covid-19 vaccine by July 4. 

President Biden on Wednesday announced a "National Month of Action" and outlined additional steps his administration is taking to meet that goal. Four of the nation's largest childcare providers will offer free childcare from now until July 4 to Americans who are getting their Covid-19 vaccine or recovering from the shot, Biden said.

Starting next week, thousands of pharmacies — including Albertsons, CVS, Rite-Aid, and Walgreens — will stay open late every Friday in June in order to allow more Americans to get vaccinated.

The month of action includes a partnership with Anheuser-Busch that could also mean free alcohol for every American 21 years of age and older

CNN's Kate Sullivan, Kaitlan Collins and Jeremy Diamond contributed reporting to this post. 

The next phase of the Covid-19 vaccine campaign in the US will be more difficult, but “we’re not giving up,” US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said Wednesday.

President Biden announced a "National Month of Action" Wednesday to try to help meet the administration’s goal of vaccinating 70% of the population by July 4.

“Because we had so much success early on, we are now getting to the part of the campaign which is tougher,” Murthy added. “We've got to look further, if you will – convince more people, get to the right information, increase access even further.”

After months of deliberations, President Biden has finalized his plan to distribute millions of coronavirus vaccines worldwide. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted earlier that an announcement was imminent, and according to multiple sources familiar with the plans, officials could reveal it as soon as today or potentially Friday. 

This week, officials will detail which specific countries are getting vaccines while cautioning that this is expected to be a lengthy, complicated process, according to a person familiar with the deliberations. 

For months, administration aides and federal health officials have deliberated over the best way to share additional vaccines doses. The US has come under intense pressure to help other nations, and several of Biden's top aides have fielded requests from allies to help, including the President himself. Jeff Zients, whom Biden recently tapped to lead efforts to address the pandemic globally, has worked in close coordination with national security adviser Jake Sullivan, sources say. 

Administration officials are expected to lay out the criteria they've agreed on to determine which countries get doses. It remains to be seen whether the US will unilaterally decide which countries get which vaccines, or whether the international vaccine initiative known as COVAX will play a major role in deciding who gets them. It could also be a combination of both, officials say.  

One of the most complicated part of the decision-making process has centered on the enormous operational undertaking that sharing vaccines will require. Zients and Sullivan have worked with multiple federal agencies, including the Defense Department and State Department, to coordinate this, in addition to diplomatic counterparts. 

Two big factors that will matter are quality control and a country's public health infrastructure. 

Right now, only doses of vaccines made by Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson will be distributed, an official told CNN. 

Biden said in May the US would send 60 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses to other countries by July Fourth. But, as of Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. ET, those doses have not cleared a federal safety and efficacy review conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration, another official said.