[ad_1]
President-elect Biden unveiled on Friday what he touted as a “bold” plan to meet his promised goal of 100 million coronavirus vaccinations by the end of his first 100 days in the White House.
Biden has targeted the delay in the vaccination efforts of President Trump’s administration, saying that “the deployment of the vaccine in the United States has so far been a dismal failure.”
BIDEN UNVEILS $ 1.9 TRILLION RESCUE PLAN TO FIGHT CORONAVIRUS, ACCELERATE VACCINATIONS AND COVIDATION TESTS
The Trump administration aimed to vaccinate 20 million Americans by the end of December, but according to new figures released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to date only 10.6 million people have received at least one of the two necessary vaccines.
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA, UNITED STATES – 12/20/18: Zaira Hernandez, frontline health worker, is vaccinated with Pfizer covid-19 vaccine by Amy Meek at IU Health Bloomington. (Photo by Jeremy Hogan / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images)
Biden has vowed that his new administration will spare “no effort to get Americans vaccinated.
“Our plan is as clear as it is bold,” Biden said. “Get more people vaccinated for free. Create more places where they can get vaccinated. Mobilize more medical teams to get the vaccines in people’s arms. Increase the supply and get them out as soon as possible.”
The president-elect’s speech – which he gave in his hometown of Wilmington, Del., Came as new cases of the virus continued to surface across the country. Nearly 390,000 people in the United States have died from COVID since the pandemic swept the country almost a year ago. More than 23.4 million people in the United States have been infected with the virus since it emerged. And on Tuesday, more than 4,300 deaths nationwide were linked to the virus, a new high in one day.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST NEWS FROM FOX ON COVIDATED VACCINATIONS
“We are left in a very dark winter,” Biden warned. “Infection rates are up 34%. More people are hospitalized with COVID than ever before. We are up to between three and four thousand deaths per day, as we approach the grim milestone of 400 000 deaths in America. The obvious. “
President-elect Joe Biden speaks at an event at the Queen Theater, Friday, Jan.15, 2021, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo / Matt Slocum)
Biden listed a handful of steps to reach his goal.
“We will work immediately with states to open up vaccinations to more priority groups,” Biden said.
And he argued that “the implementation has been too rigid and confusing”. He said: “If you asked most people today, they couldn’t tell you who exactly gets vaccinated. What they do know is that there are tens of millions of unused doses of vaccine in freezers across the country, when the people who want and need the vaccine cannot get it. “
He pledged to “fix the problem by encouraging states to allow more people to get vaccinated beyond health workers and move through those groups as quickly as they think possible.” This includes anyone 65 years of age or older, a population of over 80 people. % of deaths to date. “
BIDEN SLAMS CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICS WHO REFUSED TO WEAR MASKS IN THE ATTACK ON CAPITOL
Biden also pledged to create thousands of community vaccination centers. “On my first day in office, I will be asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, to begin setting up the first of these centers,” he said. The president-elect said they would establish 100 immunization centers across the country by the end of his first month in office, many in school gymnasiums, sports stadiums and community centers. “
“We will make sure that there are vaccination centers in the communities hardest hit by the pandemic, in black and Latin American communities as well as in rural communities,” he said.
President-elect Joe Biden receives his second dose of the coronavirus vaccine at ChristianaCare Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware on Monday, January 11, 2021. The vaccine is administered by Chief Nurse Ric Cuming. (AP Photo / Susan Walsh)
“We will provide resources to help states cover the costs of personnel … and protective equipment,” he said.
Biden said his COVID team will also “fully activate” pharmacies to provide vaccines.
Biden said he will use “the Defense Production Act to work with private industry to speed up the manufacture of the materials needed to deliver and administer the vaccine.”
The president-elect has promised that his administration “will make sure that national and local authorities know how much they will receive and when they can expect to get it so that they can plan.”
Highlighting the reluctance of many in the Black, Latin American and Native American communities to trust the vaccine, Biden said his “administration will launch a massive public education campaign” to restore confidence.
“Fairness is at the heart of our COVID response,” he said.
[ad_2]
Source link