Earlier this week, President Biden announced that the United States is on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult by the end of May. Thanks in part to Merck’s help in manufacturing the recently approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the U.S. is set to reach that milestone two months earlier than anticipated.
Having enough doses for everyone and getting the actual shots into 200+ million people are two different pairs of shoes, however, which is why President Biden once again urged Americans to stay vigilant. “There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we cannot let our guard down now or assure that victory is inevitable,” he said on Tuesday.
With new cases and deaths trending downward and more and more positive news on the vaccine front, a sense of optimism is finally spreading throughout the country. The line between optimism and “letting our guard down” is very thin, however, especially with new, potentially more infectious variants emerging.
As the following chart shows, more and more Americans are ready to return to certain activities that have been severely limited over the past year. According to Morning Consult’s Return-to-Normal tracking, the share of U.S. adults that would feel comfortable to go on vacation, eat out or go to a mall right now is higher than it’s ever been over the past 12 months, with more than half of the respondents now ready to return to cafés or restaurants.
This chart shows the percentage of U.S. adults ready to return to certain activities.
