WASHINGTON, May 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday set a goal of getting 70 percent of the country's adult population to receive at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by July 4.

Biden, who made battling the pandemic his main focus when he took office on Jan. 20, said in a speech at the White House that he also wants to have 160 million U.S. adults fully vaccinated by the Independence Day.

As of Monday, more than 145.3 million Americans aged 18 and older, or 56.3 perent of the total adult population, had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

About 104.7 million Americans aged 18 and older, or 40.6 percent of the total adult population, had been fully vaccinated, showed CDC data.

It is estimated that between 70 percent to 85 percent of the U.S. population needs to be immune to COVID-19 in order to reach herd immunity.