President Joe Biden has long heralded his vision of administering 100 million COVID vaccine shots in his first 100 days in the White House — and just over a month into his presidency, Biden is already halfway to that goal. 

What You Need To Know

  • Joe Biden and Kamala Harris marked the administration's achievement of administering 50 million COVID vaccine shots on Thursday 

  • Over 66 million COVID vaccine doses have been administered nationwide, 50 million of which took place under the Biden administration

  • President Biden has long pledged to administer 100 million vaccine doses within his first 100 days in office 

  • Biden also said should the FDA approve Johnson & Johnson's vaccine this Friday, his administration has a plan to deliver doses "as quickly as Johnson and Johnson can make it" 

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris commemorated the 50 million vaccine milestone on Thursday, watching as a group of first responders and essential workers received their jabs in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus.

Elizabeth Galloway, a registered nurse, vaccinated the group, which consisted of: Victoria Legerwood Rivera, an Attendance Counselor at Stoddert Elementary School in Washington, D.C., Corey Hamilton, a firefighter EMT in Northwest Washington, D.C., Gerald Bunn, a firefighter EMT in Southeast Washington, D.C., and Linda Bussey, a Safeway grocery store employee in Maryland.

After watching the process, Biden said his administration plans to "follow the science to deliver more great news," pledging to deliver updates on the nation’s fight against COVID each time another 50 million vaccines are administered. 

"There's so much we can do, so much progress in our reach," Biden said. "That's why I’m thankful for the folks here today for getting their vaccine shots."

Biden expressed his optimism that the pace of vaccinations will continue to increase in the coming weeks "despite the mess we were left from the previous administration."

The vaccine rollout under former president Donald Trump was lackluster at best; the administration had promised to immunize nearly 20 million people by the end of last December, but fell far short of that goal. According to a Washington Post analysis, less than half of the 31 million coronavirus vaccines shipped out by the Trump White House had been administered on Jan. 18, two days before Biden’s inauguration. 

Per the current CDC tally, over 66 million vaccine doses have now been administered nationwide. As of Thursday, 50 million of those doses were administered since Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

The daily inoculation average climbed to 1.7 million shots per day last week, but as many as double that number of doses are soon expected to be available on average each day as the pace of vaccine shipments from Pfizer and Moderna ramp up. About 145 million doses are set for delivery in the next 5 1/2 weeks, with an additional 200 million expected by the end of May and a further 200 million by the end of July.

That’s before the anticipated approval by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use of a third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson. The single-dose J&J vaccine is expected to help speed the path to immunity and requires half the vaccination resources of the two-shot regimens, and the FDA is expected to meet Friday to determine if the vaccine meets emergency authorization use guidelines.

Should that authorization come Friday, J&J doses may be distributed as early as Saturday — but there is no massive stockpile of J&J doses ready to roll out on Day One.

“The idea of a third safe and effective vaccine is very promising,” Biden said Thursday, adding: "If the FDA approves the use of this new vaccine, we have a plan to roll it out as quickly as Johnson and Johnson can make it.”

Despite the promising achievements, Biden stressed to the public that the “worst thing we could do now (would be to) let our guard down.” 

“This is not a time to relax,” he said. “We must keep washing our hands, stay socially distanced, and for God's sake, wear a mask.”

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S. has dropped by 80,000 in six weeks, and 17 percent of the nation’s adult population has gotten at least one dose of a vaccine. 

But experts are concerned about potentially more dangerous COVID-19 variants that are quietly spreading through the U.S, and the impact it may have on hospitalizations. A more contagious and possibly more deadly variant that was first identified in Britain has been found in at least 42 states. Other variants first detected in South Africa and Brazil have been reported across the U.S. in low numbers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.