“CDC and federal partners are working closely with jurisdictions, as well as with manufacturing and transportation partners, to assess weather conditions and help mitigate possible delays and delivery cancellations,” said Psaki in an interview with Casa White.
Psaki said that the White House Covid-19 response team is in constant communication with local officials and that White House officials have received many calls, emails and individual meetings with states, tribes, territories and key partners about the impact of the storm on vaccination efforts.
“We are also working with our partners to increase scheduled deliveries whenever possible and to increase shipping operations by the end of the week over the weekend. We are talking about extended schedules and additional commitments to try to reschedule a storm,” said Psaki.
Psaki said the goal is to ensure that access to vaccines remains as “stable and equitable” as possible.
But the winter storm and continuous cold still affect the system’s power generation, and rotating outages may be necessary in the coming days, the company said.
“Ensuring that the people of Texas and neighboring states have the resources they need is something he raises at meetings frequently and has done in recent days,” said Psaki.
The president instructed his team to “make quick decisions and respond to the specific needs of states as they arise during this difficult period.”
The Biden government approved federal emergency statements for Texas and Oklahoma, Homeland Security adviser and deputy national security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall told Thursday’s White House press conference. She said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was also processing a request for a federal emergency declaration from Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat.
Sherwood-Randall said that FEMA is “providing generators to support water treatment plants, hospitals and nursing homes in Texas” and “is also providing blankets, meals and other supplies, as requested by the governor of Texas”.
“The extreme weather events we are experiencing this week in the south-central and now eastern United States demonstrate once again that climate change is real and is happening now and we are not adequately prepared for it,” Sherwood- Randall said.