President Biden said on Tuesday that the masks are “the best defense against COVID-19” in the coming months, as his government acquires a sufficient supply of vaccine to inoculate most Americans.
Biden revealed that the federal government will buy an additional 100 million doses of vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna as part of its effort to accelerate the unprecedented vaccination campaign. Even with the purchase of more vaccine supplies, Biden warned that distribution will take time and that other care, such as wearing masks, should remain a priority for Americans.
“The brutal truth is that it will take months before we can get most Americans vaccinated – months,” said Biden. “In the coming months, masks, not vaccines, are the best defense against COVID-19. Experts say that wearing masks from now until April would save 50,000 lives that would otherwise die if we didn’t use them.”
Biden issued an executive order on his first day in office demanding the use of masks on federal land. He repeatedly asked governors to impose mandates across the state until the pandemic is under control.
Between the existing supply and additional purchases, the federal government will have enough doses for 300 million Americans by the beginning of the fall, according to Biden. The government plans to increase the distribution of vaccine doses in the states to at least 10 million doses per week, compared to 8.6 million in the current plan.
In addition, states will receive a “three-week forecast” of what to expect in terms of supply.
“We will increase supplies in the short term by more than 15% and give our states and local partners more certainty about when deliveries will arrive,” said Biden. “These two steps will increase our prospects of hitting or exceeding, if God willing, the ambitious goal of 100 million shots in 100 days.”
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Biden credited the “prior administration”, as well as the scientific community, for their efforts to facilitate the development of viable vaccines. At the same time, the president said the Trump administration did not cooperate during the transition and noted that the vaccine program inherited from its predecessor was “in a worse state than we anticipated”.
More than 424,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 so far, according to the Johns Hopkins University database. The death toll is expected to exceed 500,000 by the end of February.