WATCH LIVE: Joe Biden Slams Trump Administration Over Slow Coronavirus Vaccine Rollout
President-elect Joe Biden is set to give an address from Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday afternoon in which he is expected to criticize President Donald Trump’s administration for failing to meet expectations with the rollout of coronavirus vaccines.
Biden was inoculated against Covid-19 last week, during which time he gave the Trump administration credit for the development of coronavirus vaccines with Operation Warp Speed. However, transition officials told the media that the president-elect will use his Tuesday speech to call out the Trump administration for failing in their promise to have millions more Americans vaccinated by this point.
“As [Biden] has done since the beginning of this crisis, he will be truthful and straightforward with the American people about what lies ahead, and will address the current administration falling short on its pace for vaccinations,” a source told NBC.
Health officials are up in arms that the vaccine rollout has been this slow after Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said 20 million Americans might be able to receive inoculation by the end of the year. So far, only 2 million Americans have received their first dose of the vaccine, and distribution has run into a multitude of logistical problems.
Biden is also likely to use his speech to elaborate on his pandemic strategy once he takes office. This means he might address whether he’ll use the Defense Production Act to quicken vaccine development, and what will his administration do to facilitate distribution.
The address is scheduled to take place at 3:45 p.m. Eastern.
Watch above.