Biden Charts Out Aggressive Vaccination Plan As Current One ‘far Behind Schedule’
President-elect Joe Biden criticized that the Trump administration’s distribution of anti-corona vaccines was falling far behind schedule.
Thanking the companies, doctors, scientists, researchers, clinical trial participants and Operation Warp Speed for developing the vaccines quickly, Biden said that the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should.
A few weeks ago, the Trump Administration suggested that 20 million Americans could be vaccinated by the end of December.
“With only a few days left in December, we have only vaccinated a few million so far,” he said in a speech in Wilmington, Delaware.
At the pace the vaccination program is moving now, it would take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people, according to the former Vice President.
Biden vowed that his Administration will spare no effort to make sure people are getting vaccinated.
He said that if Congress provides the funding, his government would be able to meet the goal of administering 100 million vaccine shots by the end of its first 100 days.
It would take ramping up five to six times the current pace to 1 million shots a day.
Biden said he has directed his team to prepare a much more aggressive effort to boost the pace of vaccinations with more federal involvement and leadership to get things back on track.
The incoming President said he will use his power under the Defense Production Act to order private industry to accelerate the making of materials needed for the vaccine.
Vaccination sites will be set-up and mobile units will be sent to hard-to-reach communities. A massive public education campaign will be launched to increase vaccine acceptance.
The new government will make sure the vaccine is distributed equitably and free of charge.
Biden said he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have been speaking with county officials, mayors, and governors of both parties to speed up the distribution of the vaccine across the nation.
He will propose a COVID action package early next year and challenge Congress to act on it quickly.
“Masking has been a divisive issue in this country. But COVID is a killer in red states and blue states alike,” according to the Democratic leader.
Looking at the tragic data of various COVID metrics, Biden warned, “Things will get worse before they get better.”
“We have to anticipate that infections over the holidays will produce soaring case counts in January and a soaring death toll into February”.
Biden’s speech comes at a time the US COVID death toll crossed 330,000 – a daily death rate of nearly 2,200 people – and hospitals are being stretched beyond capacity.
Biden recalled that in September he warned that the death toll would hit 400,000 before the end of the Trump Administration in January. “And the reality is, it looks like we’ll hit that grim milestone.”
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