With all states opening eligibility to the public or at least having announced when they plan to do so, Biden will announce that every adult in the country will be eligible to be vaccinated by April 19, according to an administration official, rather than the original from Biden deadline of 1 May.
Biden announced last week that 90% of adults will be eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine by April 19, as well as having a vaccination site within five miles of where they live. Biden said the number of pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy vaccination program has increased from the current 17,000 locations to 40,000.
CNN previously reported that all 50 states have announced when they plan to open vaccination for everyone who is eligible, if they have not already done so. Oregon, South Dakota, Nebraska, Hawaii and New Jersey currently plan to open eligibility until May 1, so it remains to be seen how Biden’s announcement changes these states’ plans. Biden is expected to credit the governors’ effort to meet the May 1 deadline for this change.
On Tuesday, the president is scheduled to visit a vaccination site in Alexandria, Virginia, to then comment on the vaccination status of the White House. That’s when he must say that 150 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine were administered in his first 75 days in office, in line with the stated goal of 200 million injections in his 100th day in office.
Biden will disclose how the U.S. reported more than 4 million doses of coronavirus vaccine administered in a single 24-hour period over the past weekend. That record came at the same time that federal officials placed Johnson & Johnson employees in charge of a Baltimore facility and prevented it from making another vaccine for AstraZeneca after an ingredient error potentially ruined 15 million single doses.
While other nations are clamoring for more doses, including from the US, Biden also plans to say on Tuesday that the US is the first country to administer 150 million doses. According to Our World in Data, the US administered more than 165 million doses on Monday night, with China in second, having administered just under 140 million injections.
The president will say that more than 75% of people over 65 have been vaccinated and more than 55% of them are fully vaccinated, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – a figure that was 8% when he took possession.
