Washington – President Joe Biden is signing 10 executive orders on Thursday as part of his combat strategy COVID-19, which has already cost 400,000 American lives.
In a conference call with reporters, Biden’s COVID response coordinator, Jeffrey Zients, and members of the White House coronavirus response team outlined the administration’s plan, which aims to broadly expand the availability of tests and vaccines, reopen most of schools in the next 100 days, and administer 100 million doses of vaccine by the end of April. The two authorized vaccines require two injections to be effective. The Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine requires a booster three weeks after the initial dose. Patients who receive the Moderna vaccine need a second dose after four weeks.
How to watch Biden sign executive orders on COVID-19 today
But White House officials recognize that much of their plan will be impossible if Congress fails to approve almost $ 2 trillion coronavirus proposal. White House advisers said Biden would use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to accelerate the production of vaccines and PPE and reduce log congestion in the supply chain. The national strategy requires “prioritizing supplies that can cause bottlenecks” and potentially use DPA to produce “glass bottles, corks, syringes [and] needles “to ensure that drug manufacturers have all the supplies they need to keep doses of vaccines packaged as they are produced. Officials said their goal was to increase stocks for immediate needs and any future pandemics.
Management will also establish a coronavirus testing commission.
A 21-page executive summary of the National Strategy for COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness says the Biden government intends to advocate for a coordinated response while restoring “trust, responsibility and a sense of common purpose in our response to the pandemic” , an unmistakable dig in the way the Trump administration handled the pandemic.
The Trump administration said it would vaccinate all Americans in late spring or early summer. It is not clear whether the Biden government believes that this goal is achievable.
“What are we inheriting [from the Trump administration] it’s much worse than we could have imagined, “said Zients.
To increase the availability of the vaccine, the government plans to erect vaccine centers in stadiums and community centers and to mobilize federal officials to help administer vaccines. This is a departure from the Trump administration’s approach, which sent doses of vaccine to states and localities and largely left them to discover the distribution.
Under Biden’s administration, doses of the vaccine will be will no longer be retained by the government, except for a small strategic reserve. The Trump administration also ended up adopting that same policy after the Biden transition team announced it would release almost all doses.
And on Wednesday, Biden signed an executive order demanding masks on federal property.
The Biden government is also highlighting racial and geographical health disparities. One of the president’s executive orders will establish a health equity task force, led by Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, to compile data on the disproportionate impact of coronavirus on minority communities.
President Trump’s surgeon general, Jerome Adams, was asked to stay to advise President Biden’s response to COVID-19. Zients said the government will hold regular press conferences with government doctors, including Anthony Fauci.
Executive orders
- Direct agencies to address deficiencies in the supply of vaccines and PPE using all authorities, including DPA;
- Guide OSHA to publish worker safety guidelines;
- Establish a coronavirus test plate;
- Direct government scientists to identify new treatments for COVID-19;
- Direct the HHS and CDC to provide clear guidance on the safe reopening of the school;
- Direct agencies to expand data collection and reporting capabilities;
- Establish a health equity task force that focuses on racial / geographical health disparities; Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith will be the president;
- Improving the collection, sharing and analysis of secret data, including metrics by race and ethnicity;
- Require the use of a mask on airplanes, trains and other forms of public transport;
- Strengthen clinical and long-term care facilities.
Presidential Memoranda
- Providing reimbursement to schools for PPE through the FEMA relief fund;
- Guiding FEMA to increase the state’s reimbursement to the National Guard from 75% to 100%.