President Joe Biden has laid out plans to vaccinate 70% of US adults by 4 July and roll out the shots for 12- to 15-year-olds as soon as possible.

Mr Biden's new goal includes having 160 million adults fully vaccinated by Independence Day.

The target is well within reach given that 105 million have already had Covid-19 jabs and the US is vaccinating nearly a million adults per day.

But the vaccination rate is half of what it was just three weeks ago.

Mr Biden said his administration was working to win over "doubters" about the shots.

Israel - a world leader in vaccination rates - has nearly fully reopened its economy and seen its number of new coronavirus cases crash to almost zero, with just over 60% of the population having received at least one shot.

Mr Biden said at the White House on Monday: "In two months let's celebrate independence as a nation and our independence from this virus. We can do this. We will do this."

The Democratic president also announced a new website, vaccines.gov, that Americans can use to more easily find vaccination sites after widespread complaints that the sign-up process was too difficult for some.

There is also a phone number Americans can now text to submit their postal code and learn about vaccination sites in their area.

Mr Biden had previously set the goal for life to be "back to normal" by 4 July.

Source: BBC

BDST: 1252 HRS, May 5, 2021
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