Jill Biden teams up with NFL great to push vaccinations

DALLAS (AP) — Jill Biden played offense Tuesday in the fight against COVID-19, teaming up with an NFL Hall of Fame running back to encourage Texans to get vaccinated against the disease.

“Today, we are finally getting back the things that we lost. But as far as we've come, we're not done yet,” the first lady said in brief remarks after she toured a pop-up vaccination clinic at Emmett J. Conrad High School.

She was accompanied by former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith, who used a sports metaphor to make the same point.

“We're in the fourth quarter, and the game is far from over,” Smith said after the tour as they addressed a group of people who had just been vaccinated.

The first lady flew to Texas as part of President Joe Biden’s campaign to vaccinate as many Americans as possible against COVID-19 in the face of growing concern about the spread of a new and more contagious strain of the coronavirus known as the delta variant.

Biden had set a goal of vaccinating 70% of adult Americans by Sunday's July Fourth holiday, when he plans a White House celebration of the nation's independence from the virus.

But while the administration has acknowledged it will fail to meet the president's goal, the White House has said the president, first lady, vice president and her husband will continue to barnstorm the country encouraging holdouts to roll up their sleeves.

Nationwide, 66% of adults have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Texas, just under 50% of people ages 12 and older — the demographic being served at the Dallas high school's clinic — have been fully protected against the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to state COVID-19 data on the CDC's website.

In her remarks, the...