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President Biden announced Tuesday that he is moving up the deadline for states to open up COVID-19 vaccinations to all U.S. residents 18 and older by about two weeks. Less than a month after 

 states to expand eligibility to all adults by May 1, Biden changed that deadline to April 19.

"No more confusing rules, no more confusing restrictions," Biden said.

The president made his announcement after 

at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, an Episcopal institution founded in 1823. His visit was intended to highlight the participation of religious organizations in the vaccination effort.

Most states have either made vaccines available to all residents 16 and older or announced plans to do so by mid-April. The White House did not say how it intends to get the handful of remaining states to move up their timelines.

 at the end of March that nearly half of states were set to expand eligibility to all adults by April 15, and that 46 states and Washington, D.C., would do so by May 1. In the weeks since, the remaining four states — 

 — have all opened vaccines to the general public.

Biden also announced that the U.S. administered 150 million doses in his first 75 days in office, a pace that puts the administration on track to surpassing his previously stated goal of 

The country is averaging 3.1 million shots per day over a seven-day period, White House officials 

 Monday, and reached a new milestone over the weekend with an unprecedented 4 million vaccinations recorded in one day. Nearly 1 in 4 adults are fully vaccinated, officials added.

, 18.8 percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, and 32.4 percent has had at least one dose. The states with the highest percentage of their populations vaccinated include New Mexico, South Dakota, Alaska, Rhode Island and Maine.

Politics and Government News

Health

COVID-19

Rachel Treisman

Author

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that states must open vaccine eligibility to all U.S. residents 16 and older by April 19, about two weeks ahead of his initial May 1 deadline. 

President Biden: All adults should be vaccine eligible by April 19

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