Fact check: Biden falsely claims reporters all said his vaccination target was ‘not possible’

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The question of whether the target is too modest has arisen in part because the United States is approaching a level of one million doses administered per day before Biden even implemented his plans. The United States has administered an average of 914,000 doses per day over the past week, according to data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But Biden defended the 100 million goal. He told the reporter, “When I announced it, you all said it wasn’t possible. Come on, give me a break, man. It’s a good start – 100 million.”

Gupta told CNN on the day of Biden’s announcement in December that the $ 100 million goal was “very achievable” given what we had heard from vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer. The next morning, CNN medical analyst Dr Jorge Rodriguez told the air that “that’s a realistic goal” given that Biden has a plan.

A brief CNN analysis article said achieving the goal would be a “massive undertaking” and that Biden typically faced an “extremely disheartening” first 100 days in power. But this article also did not say that achieving the goal was impossible or even improbable.

It may well be that there was someone in the media who said that it is not possible to give 100 million doses in 100 days. But Biden told reporters in the State Dining Room that “you all said” it was impossible, and it clearly isn’t true.

The White House declined to comment on the matter. An aide to Biden said on condition of anonymity that the president was referring to early media coverage that was skeptical of the goal, not saying the goal was described by media as “literally impossible.”

Media skepticism

Biden could have accurately said that some of the initial coverage was skeptical.

Citing the production challenges facing vaccine makers, science journalist Laurie Garrett told MSNBC on the day of the announcement that it was “not clear” if Biden could meet the target. A New York Times article that day described the goal as “ambitious”, stating that its achievement “would require no hiccups in the manufacture or distribution of the vaccine and Americans’ willingness to be vaccinated,” and added : “Mr Biden’s vaccination schedule is achievable, experts say, but he can be optimistic.”

The Times article went on to quote former Baltimore health commissioner Dr. Leana Wen, CNN medical analyst, who said, “Distribution needs to be transparent throughout the United States, which means every State and each local health department coordinate. And there is the problem of public trust. So hopefully that will happen, but (it’s) very optimistic. ”

Yet neither the article nor Garrett declared the goal impossible. And the same day, Conor Friedersdorf, editor of The Atlantic tweeted that the goal was not ambitious enough.

More recent coverage has also conveyed a mixture of perspectives. CNN reported last week that state officials were “skeptical” that Biden would achieve the goal. But Gupta said Thursday, after Biden’s intervention, that he continued to believe the target was realistic – and added that some might argue that the 100 million figure was “under-targeting, under-targeting a good one. quantity, in terms of what is possible “.

Given Biden’s plans to expand vaccine availability, Gupta said, “I think you can get significant numbers higher than what they suggest, over 100 million doses in 100 days.”

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