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Joe Biden intends to call on all Americans to wear masks for 100 days after he takes office in an attempt to bring down infection rates as the coronavirus crisis continues to spiral out of control in the States. United.
President-elect and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris has also pledged to receive coronavirus vaccines as soon as possible when, as expected, the first vaccines are approved by U.S. regulators.
Sitting for their first joint interview since the November election, with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Biden said he would be ready to join the three previous US presidents who had promised on Thursday that they would receive the Covid-19 vaccine in public in order to build confidence in vaccinations among the American public.
Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have all said they would be ready to be vaccinated on television once a vaccine is approved in the United States.
“I’d be happy to do that one,” Biden said when asked if he would be ready to receive the coronavirus vaccine before being inaugurated as 46th president in January.
He added: “I think my three predecessors set the pattern for what needs to be done.”
Biden said he would adhere to what Obama said on Thursday: that the former president would be vaccinated if Anthony Fauci, the senior public health official for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, claimed the vaccines awaiting US regulatory approval for emergency use are safe.
“When Dr Fauci says we have a vaccine and it’s safe, that’s when I’ll show up in front of the public… Part of what happened is people lost confidence. in the ability of the vaccine to work… It matters what a president and a vice president do.
“This is my measurement,” Biden said.
Harris has previously said in an interview that she can’t wait to line up for a shot when Fauci says it’s safe to do so.
Earlier Thursday, former President Jimmy Carter, 96, issued a statement through his charitable foundation the Carter Center, saying he and his wife Rosalynn “fully support the Covid-19 vaccination efforts and encourage all who are eligible. to be vaccinated as soon as it is available in their communities. “
The Carter Center
(@CarterCenter)Carter Center Vaccine Statement: pic.twitter.com/GOYgpa9fdD
Donald Trump has not publicly said if he will get the vaccine. On Thursday, he remained silent on the record number of deaths and hospitalizations recorded in the United States in the previous 24 hours, with the United States death toll exceeding 275,000 and the recorded cases exceeding the 14m threshold, according to data from the ‘Johns Hopkins University.
Biden also replied “yes and yes” when asked if he had spoken to Fauci since defeating Trump in the November presidential election and if he would keep Fauci as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a role he has held since 1984, when Ronald Reagan was president.
Biden said he spoke to Fauci on Thursday afternoon and that his “Covid team” of health advisers spoke to him as well.
He said he also asked Fauci to be his chief medical adviser and be part of the Covid team to advise him on the pandemic.
Trump has tried in recent months to sideline Fauci while following the advice of less qualified figures such as Scott Atlas, who resigned his post as White House adviser on the pandemic earlier this week. It reinforced the president’s public ambivalence over protections such as mask wearing and social distancing rules.
In contrast, Biden said he spoke to Fauci about face masks on Thursday. “It’s important that the president and vice president, we set the pattern by wearing masks, but beyond that, where the federal government has authority, I’m going to issue a standing order that in federal buildings, you must be masked, and on interstate transport you must be masked, on planes and buses, etc. “, did he declare.
The president-elect then added that it was his “inclination” that on the first day of his presidency “I’m going to ask the public for 100 days to hide, just 100 days, not forever … and I think we see a reduction significant that occurs, along with vaccinations and masking, to drastically reduce the numbers.
Biden said he had spoken with teacher unions in addition to public health experts about best practices for keeping schools open. This includes vaccines, frequent testing, and disinfection in schools. He added that there is a clear path to keeping children in school, but it will not be cheap.
“It’s going to cost literally billions of dollars to get there,” Biden said.
The duo also touched on other aspects of their program, including tackling the climate crisis. Responding to a question of whether their lofty goals will be achievable given congressional obstructions, Harris said, “Our agenda is pretty progressive. And some might call it ambitious. But we, the American people, and frankly the world, cannot afford anything less. The clock is ticking on this issue. “
CNN’s Tapper also asked Biden if he thought it would be important to the nation for Trump as outgoing president to attend his successor’s inauguration ceremony, as presidents always do, but as many predict. Trump won’t.
Biden said it didn’t have much to do with his own feelings, but that he thought it was important in regards to the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another and also for the how the United States is viewed in the world.
“It’s totally his decision,” Biden said. “It has no personal consequences for me, but I think it is for the country.” He further lamented Trump’s refusal to concede, saying, “This stuff happens in tin dictatorships.
The president-elect remained mainly courteous when he spoke of the “chaos” of his predecessor Trump, save for several pointed comments. He said the Biden-Harris administration would not use its power to forgive family members and other associates, as Trump would explore.
“You are not going to see in our administration that kind of approach to pardons, and you are not going to see in our administration an approach to make policies by tweets,” he said.
Biden said he personally has no plans to prosecute Trump for crimes in power and that Justice Department officials he appoints will work independently. He added that while Trump and his allies seem to publicly downplay or flatly deny Biden’s victory, some senators have privately called the president-elect to congratulate him.
CNN Politics
(@CNNPolitics)While many Republican senators have not publicly acknowledged him as president-elect, Biden says that “more than several” sitting GOP senators have called him privately to congratulate him: “I understand the situation they are in. find”. pic.twitter.com/NSr2XLtiOO
Harris said the United States would be lucky for Biden to take the presidency, especially after four years of Trump, saying “there could not be more extreme exercise in a stark contrast between the current occupier of the White House and the next occupant of the White House “.
“The American people deserve in their president to have someone who is truly patriotic who loves our country,” Harris said. “Which puts the people of the country first, not themselves.”
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