Biden Pushing New Ways to Boost Vaccine Numbers

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced new ways to help more Americans get vaccinated against the coronavirus pandemic. 

The White House said that as Biden met with a bipartisan group of six U.S. governors, he laid out plans for the ride-sharing companies Lyft and Uber to provide free rides to and from vaccination sites for anyone getting vaccinated by July 4. 

The date is the country's annual Independence Day holiday and the day Biden has set as the goal for 70% of adult Americans to have received at least one inoculation shot. The figure now stands at 58%. 

 Biden also announced that some of the country's largest community colleges will serve as vaccination sites for students, staff and local communities throughout May and June. 

The U.S. government is also making funding immediately available for states to pay for phone banking and door-to-door canvassing to urge people to get vaccinated, and pop-up vaccination sites in workplaces and churches. 

Biden's actions come as the pace of vaccinations has fallen in the U.S. to about 2.1 million shots a day, down from more than 3 million a few weeks ago. About a fifth of Americans say they either have no intention of getting a shot or remain skeptics for one reason or another. 

The U.S. has recorded 582,000 coronavirus deaths and 32.7 million cases, more than any other country, according to Johns Hopkins University. But the number of new cases has fallen sharply as more Americans get vaccinated.