The Guardian
Biden promises to vaccinate 300 million people in the U.S. by the end of summer or early fall
Plan to increase vaccine supply to states and buy 200 million more doses and give states more time to wait Joe Biden talks about plans to vaccinate the US population during a press conference in Wilmington, Delaware, on January 15 . Photo: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters Joe Biden on Tuesday promised to step up vaccination programs so that the majority of the US population will be vaccinated by the end of summer or early fall. “This vaccine will be enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of the summer,” said the President of the United States on Tuesday afternoon, later adding “late summer, early fall” in a briefing at the White House . The new administration will increase the supply of vaccines to states, exercise the option to purchase a total of over 200 million doses of vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna, and give states more time in advance about the amount of vaccine they will deliver. The government’s immediate plan is to speed up the delivery of the vaccine to deliver about 1.4 million vaccines per day and 10 million doses per week for the next three weeks, as part of the White House’s previously stated ambition to vaccinate 100 million people in 100 days. “This will be one of the most difficult operational challenges we have ever faced,” said Joe Biden on Tuesday, announcing the plans. But, he added, “Help is on the way.” He indicated that the vaccination program he inherited from the Trump administration was not in proper order. “When we arrived, the vaccination program was in a worse state than we expected or anticipated,” said Biden. He added: “Until now, we had to guess how much vaccine to expect for the next week, and that’s what [state] governors had to do. This is unacceptable. “The new purchase order is expected to allow the government to vaccinate 300 million people with a two-dose regimen of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, said a senior administration official earlier. The official said there are two” factors restrictions “for the rapid delivery of vaccines: supply and distribution. The official said the White House is working to increase capacity for both, buying more vaccines, supplies and creating federal vaccination posts.” This is a wartime enterprise , it is not hyperbole, “Biden said. The official called the launch a” discouraging effort “and asked Congress to approve a $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package that includes more money for state vaccination campaigns. The Biden government has repeatedly said it plans to vaccinate 100 million people in 100 days, a goal that seemed to be in effect as the United States exceeded 1 million doses a day in the first week. of the president. As of Tuesday, 19 million people had received an injection of vaccine and 3.4 million the second. On Monday, Biden said he was hopeful that the United States is on track to deliver about 1.5 million vaccines a day, and that the United States would be “well on track” to obtain collective immunity in the spring. Over the weekend, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, described 1 million vaccinations a day as “a floor, not a roof.” However, Biden also predicted a more distressing death toll and, on Monday, said the United States “could see” 660,000 deaths in total before the pandemic is brought under control. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts that up to 508,000 people in the United States could have been killed by Covid-19 by February 13. The death toll so far is 423,000, according to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus research center. The Biden government also plans to exercise the option of acquiring an additional 200 million doses of vaccine, 100 meters from Pfizer / BioNTech and 100 meters from Moderna, the two producers authorized for emergency use in the United States so far, through contracts established by first time by the Trump administration. This would increase the supply of vaccines purchased by the government to doses of 600 million, enough to inoculate 300 million people. The senior official said the government expects to deliver 10 million doses of vaccine to states each week for the next three weeks, and will give states at least three weeks notice of upcoming shipments. The distribution of vaccines is determined by the population of the state. Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff received a second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday afternoon.