Biden Calls Vaccine Rollout a ‘Dismal Failure’ So Far, Promises 100 Million Shots In His First 100 Days
President-elect Joe Biden addressed the nation from Wilmington, DE on Thursday evening, pledging to direct additional resources to speed up distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine, which he criticized as a “dismal failure” so far, and promised 100 million shots would be given in his first 100 days as president.
Biden praised the bipartisan Covid relief package that Congress passed in December, calling it “a very important first step,” but said it was “just a down payment.”
“We need more action, more bipartisanship, and we need to move quickly,” Biden said, adding that his plan would “aggressively” speed up America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The vaccines offer so much hope, and we’re grateful to the scientists and researchers and everyone who participated in the clinical trials,” Biden continued. “But the vaccine rollout in the United States has been a dismal failure thus far.”
Biden described his goal as “100 million shots at the end of my first 100 days as president,” calling it “one of the most challenging operational efforts we have ever undertaken as a nation.”
“We’ll have to move heaven and Earth to get more people vaccinated, to create more places for them to get vaccinated,” he said. “To mobilize more medical teams to get shots in people’s arms, to increase vaccine supply, and to get it out the door as fast as possible.”
Biden then discussed directing resources so that the majority of schools could safely reopen, providing assistance with testing, transportation, cleaning supplies and services, protective equipment, and ventilation system upgrades.
He also mentioned the importance of providing paid time off for workers who have Covid-19 symptoms or who need to care for family members who get sick, to both reduce the spread of the virus and help support families.
The pandemic is not a problem with a cheap or easy solution; Biden said his plan would require about $400 billion from Congress, but it was worth it because “the very health of our nation is at stake.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.
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