Vaccine requirements raised COVID-19 vaccination rates by 20 percentage points -White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vaccination rates rose by 20 percentage points after private businesses, healthcare systems, social institutions, state and local governments adopted COVID-19 vaccine requirements, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said on Wednesday.

Zients told reporters at a press briefing that 77% of eligible Americans have received at least one shot of the vaccine.

U.S. Centers Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr Rachel Walensky said at the same briefing that the seven-day average of daily COVID-19 cases fell 12% from last week and that the seven-day average of daily deaths was down 5%.

(The story has been refiled to say “one shot”, not “on shot”, in 2nd paragraph)

(Reporting by Christopher Gallagher, Jeff Mason, and Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)