Average Daily Coronavirus Vaccinations Drop, Rate Expected to ‘Fluctuate’

People receive the COVID-19 vaccine doses at a vaccination site in Las Vegas, on Feb. 17. Over half of U.S. adults have received their first vaccine dose, according to the CDC.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients on Friday said that daily coronavirus vaccination rates will "fluctuate" as the process moves from those most eager to get the shots to other groups.

"Going forward, we expect daily vaccination rates will moderate and fluctuate," Zients said during a press briefing. "We've gotten vaccinations to the most at-risk and those most eager to get vaccinated as quickly as possible. And we will continue those efforts, but we know reaching other populations will take time and focus."

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows the seven-day average of vaccinations on the decline, having potentially peaked at roughly 3.2 million shots per day on April 11.

Over half of U.S. adults have received their first dose and more than 1 in 4 Americans are fully vaccinated. As of this week, vaccinations in every state are open to everyone 16 years of age and older.

The seven-day average of coronavirus infections and deaths declined this week, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at the briefing. She called the trends "hopeful."

President Joe Biden this week reached his goal of 200 million shots administered in his first 100 days in office. He also called on workplaces to offer paid time off to employees to get the shot.

In a post published this week, experts at the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that the U.S. will likely reach a "tipping point on vaccine enthusiasm in the next 2 to 4 weeks."

"Once this happens, efforts to encourage vaccination will become much harder, presenting a challenge to reaching the levels of herd immunity that are expected to be needed," the experts wrote.

But they added that polls have shown that "the share of adults who have either received one vaccine dose or want to get vaccinated as soon as they can has continually increased."

Ashish Jha, dean of the public health school at Brown University, tweeted that he doesn't believe the daily average will top 3 million vaccinations per day again, saying that the "vaccine avid folks have gotten their shot." He said efforts now need to focus on reaching people with less access to the shots and those with questions about the vaccine.