Half of all Americans 'now fully vaccinated' against COVID-19

Half of all Americans have been "fully vaccinated" against the coronavirus, according to the White House COVID-19 data director on Friday.

"Friday just in: +821K doses reported administered, including 565K newly vaccinated. 7-day average of newly vaccinated is up 11% from last week and 44% over past 2 weeks. 50% of Americans (all ages) are now fully vaccinated. Keep going!" Cyrus Shahpar said on Twitter.

According to Our World In Data, a tracking website affiliated with Oxford University, the US -- with nearly 349 million vaccine shots administered -- follows India and China, respectively, in the global vaccine count.

The US has so far registered over 35.5 million coronavirus cases, and more than 615,700 virus-related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 4.27 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 201.39 million infections confirmed.