Joe Biden calls on states to allow vaccination of the elderly

USA – The President of the United States, Joe Biden, called on the nation’s 50 states to allow vaccination of all adults by May 1, in a message to the nation which sought to mark the change of epoch between the beginning of the pandemic, when the White House underestimated the virus, and its current handling of the coronavirus.

Biden pointed out that when he took office on January 20, “only 8% of those over 65 had been vaccinated.” “Today that figure exceeds 70%,” said the president, who He added that he will exceed his initial goal of 100 million doses administered in his first 100 days in office.

“We will achieve this goal on the 60th day of my government,” he predicted, according to the CNN news network. The President reviewed this first anniversary of the pandemic and reiterated his campaign pledge: “Speak the truth, listen to the science, work together. Now yes, my friends, we are doing just that ”.

Biden spoke of the “psychological cost” of the pandemic, defended the use of masks and all the precautionary measures indicated by specialists and asked governors to “put aside the differences” and work in the same direction to “speed up vaccination” and stop the transmission of the virus. He promised that by May the state will have “doses to immunize all adults” and stressed: “It is sooner than expected”. “So we can accelerate the national effort to open safe schools. This will be the priority of my Secretary of Education ”, he assured and advanced: “Next week we will give instructions on what to do once vaccinated.”

A few hours before, Biden enacted the $ 1.9 trillion economic stimulus package which Congress approved on Wednesday and which is the backbone of its plan to resume growth after the crisis and collapse caused by the pandemic last year. “This historic legislation attempts to rebuild the backbone of this country”, Biden said when signing the law in the Oval Office, seven weeks after coming to power and a year after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which has already caused more than 29 million infections and the death of 530,000 people in the United States. The world’s largest economy contracted 3.5% last year, its worst performance since World War II.

His first prime-time nationwide speech and enactment coincided with the first anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Despite opposition from the Republican bloc , which denounced overspending, Democrats, who control Congress, sanctioned the $ 1.9 trillion plan on Wednesday.

Thanks to the green light from Congress, Millions of Americans will receive direct aid checks totaling approximately $ 400 billion. The plan also extends exceptional unemployment benefits until September, which expired on March 14. And it is devoting $ 126,000 million to schools, from preschools to high schools, to support their reopening despite the pandemic, as well as $ 350,000 million to states and local governments.

The The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the stimulus package promulgated by Biden could provide a significant boost to the global economy, but there are risks of rising interest rates and inflation. “We are seeing potentially significant repercussions on global growth,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said at a virtual press conference. Most countries are expected to benefit from “stronger US demand,” he added. For the US economy, the IMF has calculated an expansion of 5.1% of GDP in January 2021. The entity will update its forecast for the global economy on April 6, at the start of its semi-annual meeting, in a report in which their forecasts are probably going to be revised upwards.

Telam