More people are surviving cancer. According to statistics released by the American Cancer Society, cancer mortality has dropped 33% since 1991. That's 3.8 million cancer deaths averted, the organization says.

In 2023, nearly 2 million new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed and more than 609,820 cancer deaths are projected in the U.S.

The American Cancer Society says new cancer prevention methods and screenings are leading to better outcomes.

The organization touted the success of the HPV vaccine. It noted that there was a 65% reduction in cervical cancer rates in women ages 20-24 from 2012 through 2019.

“The large drop in cervical cancer incidence is extremely exciting because this is the first group of women to receive the HPV vaccine, and it probably foreshadows steep reductions in other HPV-associated cancers,” said Rebecca Siegel, lead author of the study.

The report, however, wasn't all good news. It showed prostate cancer increased by 3% from 2014 through 2019 after 20 years of decline. Additionally, the report details that the increase was driven by those diagnosed with advanced-stage prostate cancer.

"We must address these shifts in prostate cancer, especially in the Black community, since the incidence of prostate cancer in Black men is 70% higher than in White men and prostate cancer mortality rates in Black men are approximately two to four times higher than those in every other racial and ethnic group," said Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer at the American Cancer Society

About 18 million children under the age of 5 in the United States could soon be eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine — but first, the child-sized shot must go through a rigorous authorization process that's taking a different path than the COVID-19 vaccines that came before.

On Tuesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they had initiated a rolling submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of data for their vaccine for children ages 6 months up to 5 years. The companies expect to complete the request for emergency use authorization soon.

It will still go through a thorough safety and efficacy review by U.S. health agencies and experts, but it's a different plan than what was expected late last year.

In December, Pfizer announced that it decided to add a third dose to the primary vaccine regimen for young children. It said the original two-dose series did not provide the expected immunity in 2- to 5-year-olds.

Still, this week's request seeks authorization for the two-dose vaccine, which could make the vaccine available sooner. Pfizer and BioNTech plan to continue testing a three-dose regimen in this younger age group and say they will submit the additional data on a third dose in the coming months.

The company decided to submit for authorization of the two-dose vaccine now "with pediatric COVID-19 cases surpassing 10 million and at the request of the FDA," it said.

"Having a safe and effective vaccine available for children in this age group is a priority for the agency and we're committed to a timely review of the data, which the agency asked Pfizer to submit in light of the recent omicron surge," acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in a news release.

What changed since December

In December, Pfizer said that the vaccines appeared to protect the youngest children — infants and toddlers up to 2 — at the same levels seen in teens and young adults, slashing symptoms in 90% of kids who got the shot. However, the 3-microgram dose did not produce the same immune response in 2- to 5-year-olds.

The dose for infants and young children is about one-third of the dose given to children age 5 to 11 and a tenth the size of the dose given to people 12 and older.

The company decided to expand its trial to include a third dose, rather than the two doses older children and adults receive in a primary vaccine series.

What changed between December and this week's authorization request, public health leaders said, was the omicron variant.

During the omicron surge, cases among children "spiked dramatically," the American Academy of Pediatrics said Monday. There have been over 3.5 million child cases reported in January alone.

"It turns out that has actually facilitated the collection of more important additional clinical data that we did not have in December," U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said at a White House COVID-19 briefing Wednesday. "Whether that changes the risk-benefit profile is what the FDA will be assessing, but there has been developments since December on the data front."

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Some suggest that the FDA may be pursing a strategy of authorizing the first two doses of a vaccine that may not offer substantial protection until after a third dose, hoping to start kids on the series even as data on third shots is still pending.

Children have a lower risk of serious outcomes from a COVID-19 infection compared with elderly or immunocompromised adults. But about 1% of children who catch COVID-19 will be hospitalized. Infections can also lead to long-term consequences in children as they do in adults, increasing the risk for diabetes, autoimmune disease and a delayed reaction to infection called multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which requires hospital care.

"If the goal of the vaccine is to get baseline immunity in the kids — to prevent really bad outcomes and you're really not using the vaccine as a tool to prevent infection in the first place — two doses could do that," former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who sits on the board of Pfizer, said on CBS on Sunday. "I think that may be why federal health officials are rethinking this. If, in fact, they decide to authorize this on the basis of two doses, it could be out much sooner, perhaps as early as early March."

Others agree that it could be a smart approach.

"When I was on hospital service last, there was a 7-month-old in the intensive care unit," Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told CNN. "If you can prevent that safely, and that's number one, and effectively, number two, then prevent it" with a vaccine.

Offit sits on the panel of experts that advises the FDA on its vaccine authorizations and will be one of the first to review the new data on the vaccine. The FDA's independent vaccine advisers will meet Feb. 15 to discuss the company's data on the youngest children and make a recommendation on the vaccine.

The path to authorization

To authorize COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, the FDA has previously set a bar of 50% effectiveness, meaning the shots have to prevent disease or decrease severity in at least 50% of the people who get them.

Since the data has not been released, it's unclear whether the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for younger children meets that standard after two doses.

Most experts CNN spoke with said they couldn't think of another vaccine review process quite like this.

One somewhat similar example is the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was authorized at one dose while the company tested a second, although the first dose proved sufficient to meet the FDA's authorization requirements.

The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is expected to produce a "good efficacy signal" in children younger than 5, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday.

"The FDA is looking at the data very carefully, and in their typical fashion, they will be very careful in scrutinizing the data and making a recommendation of the decision based on that data," Fauci said.

That decision to go ahead and ask for the authorization, though, is still considered odd by some health experts.

"This does seem very unusual," said Dr. Eric Rubin, a member of the FDA's vaccine advisory committee and assistant professor microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School.

"Regulators have to weigh risk and benefit. And in this case, we know a lot about the risks in older individuals, and they're very low, including older children," Rubin said. "It doesn't have to be that great, as long as we have something that's safe, and then a theoretical benefit could be that you are set up well for future vaccines. But having said all that, it does seem like a very unusual route to take."

Rubin thinks that with so many parents eager to get their kids vaccinated, there may also be some lobbying underway.

"FDA doesn't seem to be immune to political pressures," he said. "And I know that there are some who are saying that it would be good to get a couple doses of vaccine into kids now, in assuming that the third dose is going to be the one that makes a difference."

'We need a vaccine for kids'

Dr. Helen Talbot, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University and a member of the CDC's independent vaccine advisory board, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, also hasn't seen the data. But she too believes there may be some pressure from parents.

"There's families of kids less than 5 who are really pushing. They feel like they're the last ones that don't have access, and there's nothing available for them," Talbot said. She knows this personally, since she gets a lot of emails asking about it, too.

Talbot said her questions are around safety data and the potential benefits and risks.

She is concerned about people in the middle who aren't quite sure if they want to get their child vaccinated. Only about 3 in 10 parents say they'll get their child under 5 vaccinated against COVID-19 right away, according to survey results from the Kaiser Family Foundation that were released Tuesday.

Communication may be key to help parents understand why they should vaccinate their small children, particularly if two doses may not be as protective as three.

"The FDA is really going to have to be able to eloquently explain the decision," she said.

For his part, Dr. Jay Portnoy, a member of the FDA's advisory panel on vaccines, says he's glad to see the FDA speeding up its process.

"I'm actually relieved," said Portnoy, who's a pediatrician at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. "Right now, our hospital is filled, not all Covid patients but many COVID patients, including our intensive care unit."

Portnoy says parents are anxious and worried.

"They're forced to send their kids to school, and the schools aren't allowed to mandate masks or anything else," he said."So what is a parent to do? That's just from my perspective. It's about time. We need a vaccine for kids."

What happens after authorization

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday that the administration is ready to "hit the ground running" to vaccinate young children as soon as Pfizer receives a green light from the federal government.

Zients said the U.S. has enough kid-size needles and supplies to administer the vaccines. The administration is also working with local public health partners to make thousands of locations nationwide ready to vaccinate these children.

"We know many parents are eager to get their kids the protection of the vaccine. We know others have questions. So we're working with our partners to ensure all parents have access to the facts and information they need to make the right decision," Zients said.

Pfizer has said it's testing a third dose administered eight weeks after a second dose. Data on a potential third dose, an updated authorization and third-dose rollout would come later on.

This may not be the last change to the COVID-19 vaccine schedule.

Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said this week that it may be a while before scientists figure out the best vaccine schedule for children.

"What the vaccine schedule should be is much more complicated, and that may take months or even years to optimize," Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

"It's probably a three-dose schedule for lots of people, but we really don't know that yet," Frieden said. "Nor do we know the right interval between doses. That's going to be with time, but we do know that vaccines are remarkably effective."

As the new COVID-19 omicron variant spurs global travel bans, experts say concerns over its impact should prompt millions of unvaccinated Americans to get their shots — and for those who are eligible, to get their boosters.

"I would hope that within the next week or two weeks, so many of those people will take advantage of the vaccine," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told CNN on Friday. "That will help us in the immediate term. And I would anticipate that, as bad as Omicron might be, our vaccine still will be partially effective."

Dr. Anthony Fauci echoed that, pointing to vaccinations and boosters as effective mitigation tools.

"I'm saying this absolutely clearly, that if ever there was a reason for unvaccinated people to get vaccinated and for those who have been vaccinated when your time comes up to go and get a booster shot," Fauci told NBC News on Friday.

"The booster shots give you a very, very important edge," he said, noting that boosters increase the level of antibodies that protect against the virus.

Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that 196 million Americans, or 59% of the U.S. population, was fully vaccinated as of Friday. An additional 37.5 million have received booster shots, the data shows.

On Friday, the U.S. moved to restrict travel from eight mostly southern African countries starting Monday as the World Health Organization deemed omicron, first detected in South Africa, a variant of concern. Travel into the U.S. will be restricted for those entering from Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Malawi and South Africa.

Omicron has raised concerns for health officials because there's a possibility it could be more contagious than the original novel coronavirus strain, the WHO said, and it also has a significant number of mutations.

After a pandemic that has lasted nearly two years, experts and global leaders are anxious about the impact of the omicron variant, and many nations have issued travel bans. Besides South Africa, the newly identified variant has been detected in Botswana, Hong Kong and Belgium.

Two cases of the variant have also been detected in the U.K., Secretary of State for Health Sajid Javid said Saturday, prompting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce a series of "targeted" measures to combat the variant.

There have been no indications so far that the variant has made its way into the U.S., Fauci told CNN Friday. On Saturday morning, however, he told NBC he "would not be surprised" if the variant was already in the U.S., saying, "it almost invariably is going to go all over."

The U.S. variant surveillance system has reliably detected new variants in the past, the CDC said.

"We expect omicron to be identified quickly, if it emerges in the U.S.," the agency said in a statement.

Vaccine makers are working to determine effectiveness against omicron

Meanwhile, vaccine makers have disclosed they are taking action to address the emergence of a new variant.

Moderna is working quickly to test the ability of its vaccine to neutralize omicron, the company said Friday, and data is expected in the coming weeks.

The strain includes mutations "seen in the Delta variant that are believed to increase transmissibility and mutations seen in the Beta and Delta variants that are believed to promote immune escape," Moderna said in a news release.

"The combination of mutations represents a significant potential risk to accelerate the waning of natural and vaccine-induced immunity."

If its current vaccine and booster are insufficient against the variant, Moderna explained that one possible solution is boosting people with a larger dose, which the company is testing.

The company is also evaluating two multivalent booster candidates to see if they provide better protection against omicron — both of which include some of the viral mutations present in the variant. Moderna said it is also testing an omicron-specific booster.

"For several days, we have been moving as fast as possible to execute our strategy to address this variant," Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in the news release.

Scientists at BioNTech, the German company that partnered with Pfizer to make its COVID-19 vaccine, are also investigating the impact of the variant on their shot, with data expected within the upcoming weeks.

A Johnson & Johnson spokesperson told CNN in a statement the company was also testing the effectiveness of its vaccine against omicron.

COVID-19 travel restrictions aren't all that effective, experts say

The Biden administration's decision to curtail travel from eight countries is a precautionary measure as the U.S. government learns more about the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

But some experts say travel restrictions aren't as effective as they may seem.

"Travel bans are modestly effective. They can obviously influence travel directly from that country to the United States," said Schaffner, the doctor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

"But obviously U.S. citizens will be permitted to come back. They could bring the virus. And people could go from the country of interest, South Africa for example, and go to other countries that are not on the travel ban, and enter, if you will, by the side door. So travel bans are somewhat effective, but let's not expect a miracle," he said.

U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and noncitizens who are the spouses of citizens or permanent residents are exempted from the new restrictions.

Dr. Megan Ranney, a professor of emergency medicine and Associate Dean of Public Health at Brown University, said universal vaccination requirements for all air travel would be more effective.

"Or having quarantines when people arrive in the U.S. from other countries. Neither of those are particularly politically palatable right now, but they would make a much bigger difference in the spread of this variant," Ranney told CNN on Friday.

The U.S. on Thursday donated its 200 millionth COVID-19 shot to help vaccinate the rest of the world, the White House announced. The Biden administration aims to lead a global vaccination campaign even as it rolls out boosters for domestic use, which critics say diverts doses from those who are in greater need around the world.The donated doses include more than 120 million in surplus from the U.S. stockpile of shots, as well as the initial deliveries of the 1 billion doses the Biden administration has purchased from Pfizer for overseas donation by September 2022. More than 100 countries and territories have received the American doses, and the U.S. remains the largest vaccine donor in the world.“These 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have helped bring health and hope to millions of people, but our work is far from over,” U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power said in a statement. “To end the pandemic, and prevent the emergence of new variants, as well as future outbreaks within our nation’s borders, we must continue to do our part to help vaccinate the world.”While aid groups have praised the U.S. for leading the world in vaccine donations, they have criticized the U.S. for approving booster doses for use in the country while many people in lower-income nations have no protection at all. The Food and Drug Administration approved booster doses of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines Wednesday, following last month's authorization of a third dose of the Pfizer shot.“The reality is, the more wealthy countries use booster shots, the further we will be from ending the pandemic," said Tom Hart, acting CEO of the One Campaign. “While some argue that we can both administer boosters and vaccinate the world, the simple fact is that boosters divert supply from an urgent area of need — administering first shots around the world.”While half the planet has been vaccinated, there are massive geographic and wealth disparities. The majority of global shots have been administered in high- and moderate-income countries.

CINCINNATI —

Many college students will begin returning to campus and class next week.

The spring semester will be a little different for them. Modified start dates, virtual learning, COVID-19 testing, and in some cases, mandatory flu shots are factors coming into play.

At the University of Cincinnati, 70 percent of coursework will be online for the spring semester.

"We have a required return to campus testing for any student that's a residential student or has an interest in coming to campus for any reason," said Dr. Chris Lewis, vice provost for academic programs at UC.

Students can get tested on campus. Lewis said more than 1,800 have already done so.

"It's very easy for the students and very quick. I'm told that from the time they show up, they can walk out the door in 60 seconds," Lewis said.

Any UC student registered for more than six credit hours is also required to get the flu shot.

At Xavier University, students are not required to get the flu vaccine.

"It's something we're monitoring, but currently, we feel really good about the number of students who have the flu vaccine," said Jean Griffin, dean of students at Xavier University.

Before heading back to Xavier on Jan. 19, students are being asked to take several precautions.

"While they're at home, we're asking them to kind of limit their exposure to other people. Do self quarantine at home. Get a test if you can before you come back to campus, " Griffin said.

Ohio University launched a new testing program for the spring semester. All OU students are required to take an at-home saliva-based COVID-19 test before returning to campus. Students living on campus will be also required to get tested for COVID weekly. Off-campus students will be tested every other week.

Ohio State students will also have to complete an at-home COVID test prior to returning and then a second test once they arrive in Columbus.

OU and OSU do not require flu vaccinations.

Miami University says it will be testing all student for the coronavirus upon arrival back to campus. Miami does not require the flu shot.

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel voted 18-0 to authorize a Pfizer booster shot for Americans 65 years and older and those at risk of severe COVID-19 infection.

The panel also voted to authorize a booster shot for those who are at risk of severe COVID-19 due to their job, including health care workers, teachers, and essential infrastructure workers.

In a blow to President Joe Biden's vaccine plan, the panel previously voted not to approve the booster shots for all Americans.

Biden had previously said that booster shots would be available for Americans by Sept. 20.

In data released by the FDA on Wednesday, Pfizer argued that vaccine booster shots were not only safe and effective but would be necessary for all Americans over 16, because real-world studies show the effectiveness of the first two doses wanes over time.

The data also showed that a third vaccine dose restored efficacy in preventing COVID-19 to up to 95%.

The Associated Press reports that the panel voiced frustration that Pfizer had provided little data on the safety of the extra doses, and wouldn't dramatically change the arc of the pandemic if all Americans were offered a booster shot.

The Centers for Disease Control will meet next week to review the panel's decision.

The last major hurdle has been cleared before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approves COVID-19 booster shots for those with compromised immune systems.

Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices voted unanimously to approve the boosters. Now, the CDC is expected to sign off on the approval.

“I screamed with excitement," said kidney transplant recipient Wendy Anthony. "We knew it was coming."

The list of those who should get the boosters may leave some grey areas, but it’s almost certain to include organ transplant recipients.

“For transplant recipients, because we’re so immune suppressed, we have to take medications every 12 hours for the rest of our lives, that lower our immune system. COVID is particularly dangerous for us,” Anthony said.

Medications that keep the immune system suppressed help to keep the body from rejection the organ, but it also makes it vulnerable to viruses.

“When a transplant recipient, chance of death is much higher. About 30 percent of the transplant patients are dying when they get COVID. So, it’s frightening,” Anthony said.

Experts are recommending patients check with their doctor before getting a booster.

The packing and shipping of a third COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in the U.S. is underway. Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose shot will start going into Americans’ arms in a matter of days.

Nearly 4 million doses are going out just this week. That's all of the current supply.

The number of doses states are getting is proportional to population, like with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Johnson & Johnson’s CEO says he's confident the company will be able to deliver on its promise of 100 million doses by June, and up to 1 billion by the end of the year.

“Johnson &Johnson built its vaccine from a virus that causes the common cold, known as adenovirus,” said Dr. Leo Nissola, a COVID Act Now medical advisor.

The science behind Johnson & Johnson's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine and the Moderna and Pfizer two-shot vaccines is different, but not new.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine takes a small amount of genetic material from the coronavirus and combines it with a weakened version of a common cold virus called adenovirus. That combination doesn't make us sick.

Adenovirus technology was also used to make Ebola and tuberculosis vaccines.

Pfizer and moderna use mRNA technology, which uses a genetic code to make the antigen protein specific to COVID-19. This code tells our body to make the antigen itself, prompting an immune response.

“The messenger RNA platform allows for scientists and drug makers to update the coding on these vaccines sooner, faster and at a different pace than adenovirus vectored vaccine, so in that sense, should we need a boost, our immune shot very likely will come from those mRNA based platforms,” said Dr. Nissola.

Pfizer and Moderna are already testing a third, booster shot to protect against COVID-19 variants.

Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson may have the advantage of one and done for now, since it only requires a single dose. It can be stored for months in a refrigerator.

All three were found to be highly effective in preventing severe disease and death.

“It makes me hopeful that by summer, we will be able to vaccinate millions and millions of people and have a little bit more normalcy back,” said Dr. Nissola.

The J&J vaccine is also expected to boost vaccination equity since it's only one dose and is easier to store.

COVID-19 cases have been on the rise as the Delta variant spreads across the U.S. -- but areas with low vaccination rates are seeing disproportionately high levels of infection.

All 50 states and Washington, DC, have reported cases of the Delta variant, which is believed to be more transmissible than other strains. And though experts have stressed that vaccines provide strong protection against the variant and are the best defense against spread and continued pandemic conditions in the U.S., parts of the country are still lagging in vaccination rates, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"As a nation, as a whole, we are doing very well. We have ... about 50% of the population that is vaccinated," said director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci on NBC's "Meet the Press." "But we have a big country with disparity in the willingness to be vaccinated."

Fauci has said this disparity could result in "two Americas" -- one where most people are vaccinated and another where low vaccination rates could lead to case spikes.

The holiday weekend highlighted the divide as some regions saw increased COVID-19 infections and others celebrated holiday gatherings with the safety of vaccine protection.

"This is really a day of independence -- for folks in the United States who are vaccinated, this is really a holiday that celebrates our independence from the fear and the death and the hardships that so many people in this country have faced," CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said.

Meanwhile, the South, Southwest and parts of the Midwest are starting to see surges. Florida, in particular, is being hit hard, Reiner noted, with about 17% of all new U.S. cases being reported in the state.

"People will continue to die until we vaccinate everybody," Reiner said.

The importance of vaccination became especially clear last month, when more than 99% of U.S. COVID-19 deaths were among unvaccinated people, Fauci told NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday.

White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients told CNN Sunday, "If you're not vaccinated, you are not protected so we're going to double down on our efforts to vaccinate millions of more Americans across July and August."

Renewed debate on masks

In areas with high COVID-19 transmission and low vaccination rates, even vaccinated people may want to wear masks, Fauci said Sunday.

"When I'm in that area where there's a considerable degree of viral circulation, I might want to go the extra mile to be cautious enough to make sure that I get the extra added level of protection -- even though the vaccines themselves are highly effective," Fauci told NBC.

And while some areas, like Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine have fully vaccinated more than 60% of the their total population against the virus, others are lagging far behind, according to the CDC.

Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi are the furthest behind, with 35.3% or less of their population fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.

"Currently, approximately 1,000 counties in the United States have vaccination coverage of less than 30%. These communities, primarily in the Southeast and Midwest, are our most vulnerable," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday. "As the Delta variant continues to spread across the country, we expect to see increased transmissions in these communities, unless we can vaccinate more people now."

In states where about 35% of the population or less is vaccinated, counties or cities could see outbreaks, Fauci said.

Even with the possibility of outbreaks among undervaccinated populations, Reiner said vaccines provide strong enough protection that those who are inoculated shouldn't need to wear masks, except for those with extenuating circumstances like compromised immune systems.

Vaccination is "the ticket to get your life back," Reiner said.

For his part, Zients wouldn't say Sunday if masks should be mandated for vulnerable regions, but said local governments will make their own decisions and the CDC has been clear about who should and should not wear a mask.

Regardless of mandates, former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said Sunday that masks may become normalized for some people looking to protect themselves against respiratory pathogens -- be the coronavirus or the flu.

"I think people are going to use them on a voluntary basis," Gottlieb told CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday. "I think going to work with the sniffles is going to be frowned upon. I think businesses are going to have access to routine testing. I think there might be symptom checks within certain settings."

A push to get vaccination rates up over the summer

Zients, the White House coronavirus official, said the administration will be increasing efforts this summer to get more people vaccinated so they can return to enjoying life without fear of COVID-19.

President Joe Biden had set a goal to have at least 70% of U.S. adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4. The nation missed that mark by about eight million on Sunday.

The numbers are still ahead of where most people expected they would be, Zients said in defense of the vaccination progress, but added that federal officials will focus on increasing vaccine accessibility to the public to boost numbers.

"The most trusted messenger is the local doctor, the local health care provider, so increasingly we have vaccines in doctor's offices, at health care clinics, so that people can get their questions answered and roll up their sleeve and get a shot," Zients said.

If not enough people get that shot, it could spell a surge in the pandemic this winter, experts have said.

Vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit estimated in May that 80% of the population will need to become immunized through vaccines or prior infections to avoid a winter surge.

"The proof will be in the pudding next winter," Offit told CNN's Jake Tapper.