The United States has now successfully vaccinated half of their entire population against COVID-19, according to data released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The hard-earned milestone comes as the country grapples with the spread of the Delta variant.

While coronavirus cases have risen 142% in the last two weeks, according to an NBC report, data from the Department of Health and Human Services shows that hospitalizations are also on the rise.  

The delta variation, which accounted for more than 80% of new cases in early July, is considerably more infectious than the initial strain, according to health experts. While data suggest infections and sickness among vaccinated persons are uncommon, the CDC revised its mask recommendation on July 27 due to the variant’s spread.

President Joe Biden and his administration have struggled to reach the 50% mark for some while now as they have been faced with vaccine hesitancy among the countrymen. He had set a goal to deliver at least one COVID-19 vaccine to 70% of adults by July 4, which he also failed to reach.

Meanwhile, the country reported 100,000 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a six-month high. Seven states with the lowest vaccination rates – Florida, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi – account for half of the country’s new cases and hospitalizations in the last week, White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters on Thursday.

The seven-day average of daily cases in the US reached nearly 95,000, a five-fold increase in less than a month, Reuters data on Wednesday showed.

This data comes as Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s top advisor on US health care issues, said that the country might get its own variant of COVID-19 if the community spread of the virus is not curtailed.  

“People who say, ‘I don’t want to get vaccinated because it’s me and I’ll worry about me, I’m not having any impact on anybody else,’ that’s just not the case”, Fauci said, according to reports from ABC News.

He had announced that the US government will supply booster shots to Americans with compromised immune systems. Fauci had earlier warned that cases could double to 200,000 per day due to the variant in the coming weeks.