Biden administration admits it won't reach July 4 vaccination goal; CDC studies explain vaccination slowdown: Latest COVID-19 updates

The Biden administration won't reach its "aspirational" goal of getting 70% of adult Americans at least partially vaccinated for COVID-19 by the Fourth of July, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said Tuesday.Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have reached the goal already – but some states are at less than 50% of all adults, Zients said at a White House briefing. Read more.– Kristen Jordan Shamus, Christina Hall and Dave Boucher, Detroit Free PressDeaths among Medicare patients in nursing homes soared by 32% last year, with two devastating spikes eight months apart, a government watchdog reported Tuesday in the most comprehensive look yet at the ravages of COVID-19 among its most vulnerable victims.The report from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services found that about 4 in 10 Medicare recipients in nursing homes had or likely had COVID-19 in 2020, and that deaths overall jumped by 169,291 from the previous year, before the coronavirus appeared."We knew this was going to be bad, but I don't think even those of us who work in this area thought it was going to be this bad," said Harvard health policy professor David Grabowski, a nationally recognized expert on long-term care, who reviewed the report for The Associated Press.All Chicago residents ages 12 and up are eligible to get vaccinated at home, and those who choose at-home shots will receive a $50 gift card from Grubhub, the city's Department of Public Health announced Tuesday.The city's "Protect Chicago At Home" plan will allow up to 10 people at a residence to be vaccinated, even if people in the group are not Chicago residents, according to the department.People will be allowed to choose between the Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Their biggest questions: concerns about vaccine safety and effectiveness, a second study said.Adults 18-39 years with lower incomes, lower educational attainment, without health insurance, who were non-Hispanic Black adults who lived in suburbs areas had the lowest reported vaccination coverage and intent to get vaccinated, the study added.Gov. Gavin Newsom says California will pay off all past-due rent that accumulated in the nation’s most populated state because of the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, a promise to make landlords whole while giving renters a clean slate.The $5.2 billion multiple aid packages approved by Congress appear to be more than enough to cover all of the unpaid rent in the state, according to Jason Elliott, senior counselor to Newsom on housing and homelessness.