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Demand for the vaccine is dropping. The Federal Emergency Management Agency reports that 351 federally supported vaccination sites had closed as of May 21, leaving a total of 1,619 nationwide. As of Wednesday, providers were administering about 1.1 million doses per day on average, about a 67 percent decrease from the peak of 3.38 million reported on April 13, according to C.D.C. data.
Lack of child care remains a major barrier to vaccination, experts say. The C.D.C. recently reported that vaccination coverage among adults was lower among those living in counties with lower socioeconomic status and with higher percentages of households with children, single parents, and people with disabilities.
White House officials said two of the four providers — KinderCare and Learning Care Group, which together have more than 2,500 sites around the country — will offer free, drop-in appointments to any parent or caregiver who needs support to get vaccinated or recover from vaccination.
The Y.M.C.A., with more than 500 sites nationwide, will offer drop-in care during vaccination appointments, the officials said. And Bright Horizons, which joins with more than 1,100 employers to provide child care, will also offer free care to support the vaccination of more than 10 million workers employed by the companies it serves.
“There is no question that both transportation and child care are real barriers for people,” Dr. Jha said. “The question that is unclear for me is whether offering free child care solves that problem” because parents might be unwilling to leave their children with caregivers they do not know.
To that end, the officials said, Mr. Biden will encourage states to use money from the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion stimulus package passed by Congress, to provide financial incentives or bonuses for smaller providers of community child care to stay open extra hours or otherwise help people get vaccinated.
As the rate of vaccinations in the United States has climbed, cases have plummeted.
But experts are warning Americans not to become complacent, and say that it is likely that infections will spike in certain regions like the South, where vaccination rates are low and the summer heat is driving people indoors, where the coronavirus spreads more efficiently.
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