“Although it was different for everyone, we all lost something,” said Biden, calling last year “a collective suffering, a collective sacrifice.”
Biden announced that he is sending an additional 4,000 active duty soldiers to support vaccination efforts and will allow more people – such as medical students, veterinarians and dentists – to give injections. He is also targeting more doses to about 950 community health centers and up to 20,000 retail pharmacies, to make it easier for people to be vaccinated near their homes.
As vaccine supply continues to increase, Biden announced that it will target states and territories to make all adults eligible for vaccination by May 1. The United States expects enough 255 million adults to deliver enough doses by the end of that month, but the process of effectively administering those doses will take time.
While offering optimism, Biden made it clear that the July 4 calendar requires the cooperation of Americans to continue to use face coverings, maintain social distance and follow federal guidelines designed to reduce the spread of the virus in the short term. He also asked them to roll up their sleeves to be vaccinated as soon as they were eligible.
“This is a nationwide effort,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain told CNN. “The president is sending our entire government to do its part. The American people will also have to do their part ”.
The speech came hours after Biden signed a $ 1.9 trillion aid package on Thursday that he said will help defeat the virus, restore the health of the economy and deliver direct aid to Americans in need. Some direct checks may start arriving this weekend.
“This historic legislation is about rebuilding this country’s backbone,” said Biden when signing the bill in the Oval Office.
Most notable for many Americans are the provisions that provide up to $ 1,400 in direct payments, some of which may start to enter bank accounts this weekend, and extend $ 300 a week in emergency unemployment benefits in early September. . Also included are expanded tax credits next year for children, childcare and family leave – some of which credits Democrats have signaled they would like to make permanent – in addition to spending on renters, food programs and utility bills.
The House gave Congress final approval for the scanning package by a vote close to the 220-211 party line on Wednesday, seven weeks after Biden entered the White House and four days after the Senate passed the bill. Republicans in both chambers unanimously opposed the legislation, characterizing it as bloated, crammed with liberal policies and indifferent to signs that the crisis is easing.
Biden originally planned to sign the bill on Friday, but he arrived at the White House more quickly than anticipated.
“We want to move forward as quickly as possible,” tweeted team boss Klain.
Looking ahead to his comments on Thursday night, Biden said he “would talk about what we went through as a nation last year, but more importantly, I will talk about what comes next.”
Biden’s challenge is to honor the sacrifices made by the Americans and, at the same time, encourage them to remain vigilant, despite the “virus fatigue” and the growing impatience to resume normal activities, given the tantalizing promise of vaccines. Speaking on the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s pandemic declaration, he will mourn the dead, but will also project optimism about the future.
“This is a chance for him to really shine in everyone’s living room and be the bereaved chief and explain how he’s leading the country out of that,” said the presidential historian and professor at Rice University Douglas Brinkley.
“This is a great time,” added Brinkley. “He has to win hearts and minds so that people remain masked and get vaccinated, but also recognize that, after last year, the federal government has not forgotten you.”
Biden’s comments at night in the East Room are central to a crucial week for the president, as he addresses the defining challenge of his mandate: leading the nation through the economic and public health storms caused by the virus.
On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released initial guidelines on how vaccinated people can resume some normal activities. On Wednesday, Congress approved the president’s $ 1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which aims to lessen the economic impact of the virus on tens of millions of people. And the country was on its way to administer its 100 millionth dose of vaccine as early as Thursday.
Almost exactly a year ago, president Donald Trump he went to the nation to mark the WHO declaration of a global pandemic. He announced travel restrictions and asked Americans to practice good hygiene, but showed little alarm about the coming catastrophe. Trump, it was later revealed, acknowledged that he was deliberately “minimizing” the threat of the virus.
For Biden, who promised to be outraged at the American public after the alternate reality of the Trump virus conversation, the imperative is to find the right balance “between optimism and sadness,” said Princeton history professor and presidential scholar. Julian Zelizer.
“Generally, the country likes optimism and, at this particular moment, they are desperate for optimism, but one cannot risk a ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment,” he said, warning against any premature declaration that the threat was defeated.