In the first city hall of his presidency, Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the United States would have “more than 600 million doses” of vaccines for COVID-19 available by the end of July.
Presented by Anderson Cooper of CNN in Milwaukee, Biden’s first question came from the network’s anchor, who asked when every American could get a vaccine for the disease that has so far killed more than 487,000 people in the U.S.
“At the end of July this year,” said Biden resolutely. “When we took office, there were only 50 million doses available. By the end of July, we will have more than 600 million doses, enough to vaccinate all Americans ”.
Cooper pressured Biden about whether he meant the vaccine would be available or whether the injections would have been given by then.
“They will be available,” replied Biden. “Look, what we did, we went into the office and found that the stock had no wallet, that is, there was nothing in the refrigerator, figuratively and literally speaking, and there were 10 million doses available. We increased that number in the first three weeks we were in office to significantly more than that. “
Biden said he pressured vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna to increase production and deliver 600 million doses.
“We managed to get the time ahead because we used the National Defense Act to help the manufacturing part get more equipment, and so on,” continued Biden.
Biden added that most of the 600 million people who want to be vaccinated will be able to do so “in the meantime”, rather than having to wait until the end of July.
“What will happen is that it will continue to increase as we move forward and we will have reached 400 million by the end of May and 600 million by the end of July,” said Biden.
As of Tuesday, the United States had vaccinated 39.9 million people, or 12% of the population. Last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the gradual rollout of vaccines for the elderly and people with pre-existing health problems would come to an end in April, when he predicted what he called the start of a new phase.
“If you look at the projection, I imagine that when we get to April, that’s what I’d call it, to [lack] best writing, ‘hunting season’, ”Fauci told NBC’s“ Today ”program. “That is, almost anyone and everyone in any category can start getting vaccinated.”
The rush to distribute vaccines comes at a precarious time. COVID-19 continues to mutate, with variants from the United Kingdom and South Africa now actively circulating in the USA. Although the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been found to be effective against the variants detected so far, the risk is that more mutations could render them ineffective.
“There is no evidence that they are not useful,” said Biden of the two vaccines approved in the United States. “So if you can get a vaccine, do it whenever you can.”
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