President Biden
Joe Biden Joe Biden’s Surprising Presidency The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden, McConnell Agree Vaccines, Clash Over Infrastructure Republican Battle With MLB Steps Up MORE cautiously raising expectations of the coronavirus vaccine rollout, announcing Tuesday that all adults will be eligible for a dose in the next two weeks and that the “vast majority” will have received a dose by the end of May.
The White House has been diligent in setting achievable goals for Biden’s response to the coronavirus, which has subsequently allowed the president to exceed or raise expectations.
After initially pushing states to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1, Biden announced on Tuesday that all adults would be able to sign up to receive a dose by April 19. Several states had already made everyone over the age of 16 eligible to receive vaccines. a vaccine, while others had plans to vaccinate all adults on or before April 19.
Biden also announced that the US has administered more than 150 million vaccine doses since taking office, far exceeding the initial goal of 100 million doses in his first 100 days in office, which Biden has since doubled.
“The way Biden has acted at the policy level has been underpromising and overperforming. He wants to set modest and reasonable expectations and then do his best to exceed those expectations, ”said Lawrence Gostin, professor of health law at Georgetown University. “I think that’s sensible from the public perspective because it keeps people in mind that we have to be careful … and we have to be patient and wait our turn.”
Polls consistently show that a solid majority of the public approves of Biden’s handling of the coronavirus – an issue that is highly valued by many Americans. Democrats are likely to get across the message they delivered about vaccines and economic aid to increase their chances in the 2022 midterm elections.
“It sets the tone for everything,” Josh Schwerin, a Democratic strategist, said of the virus response. “The pandemic is the number one issue for voters everywhere, and that is across party lines and every demographic split, it will always be the number one problem. Getting it right is the most important thing Biden can do. That doesn’t mean he can just sit back and do nothing else, but it definitely sets the tone for the rest of his first term and the midterm elections. ”
The Biden government faces real challenges as new variants and a fresh increase in coronavirus cases threaten progress. Officials are also struggling to vaccinate Americans who are reluctant to take the vaccine, including some in minority communities and Republicans.
Biden made confrontation with the pandemic a focal point of his successful presidential campaign and spent his first 75 days in office tackling the coronavirus.
The Biden administration has made efforts to accelerate the production and delivery of US-approved vaccines, two of which are approved under the Trump administration and one under Biden, and is working with states and local officials to increase access. to these vaccines. The White House says there will be enough vaccines for all Americans by the end of May.
“Even if we move at the record speed at which we move, we are not even halfway through the vaccination of more than 300 million Americans,” Biden said on Tuesday, emphasizing the need to be constantly on the lookout against the virus. “This is going to take time.”
Biden’s approach to setting lower expectations differs from the previous one President Trump
Donald Trump Joe Biden’s Surprising Presidency The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden and McConnell agree on vaccines, clash over infrastructure Republican battle with MLB intensifies MORE, who regularly set lofty goals regarding the virus that were not being achieved. For example, Trump, who has taken credit for the vaccines, predicted one could be delivered by election day.
“The main thing is not rhetorical. It’s that people can actually see and feel a difference in their lives, ”said Schwerin.
The White House hopes the new April 19 target will provide clarity and allow for a faster pace of vaccinations, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki
Jen PsakiOn The Money: Manchin Says He Won’t Support An Increase in Corporate Taxes to 28 Percent | Yellen Calls for Global Minimum Corporate Taxes War over voting laws further erodes confidence in elections Easter Bunny makes surprise visit to White House briefing room MORE told reporters Tuesday, although officials have made a point to emphasize that eligible Americans should not expect to receive a dose on April 19.
The White House is also well aware of the highly contagious variants of coronavirus circulating in the US and against which the most powerful weapons are the vaccines.
“The overarching theme here is that there is a recognition that we are in a race, a race between the vaccines and the variants,” said Anand Parekh, chief medical advisor at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “The way out is to vaccinate the American public as soon as possible.”
Biden and his team face hurdles in convincing all American adults to get the vaccine, with data suggesting hesitation among minority ethnic and racial groups as well as Republicans.
“It is one thing to be universally eligible for vaccines. It’s quite another to achieve universal vaccine coverage, and I think that’s where its weakness is. That’s where America’s vulnerability is, ”said Gostin. “We have to cheer that everyone is eligible, but we can’t pat ourselves on the back because the real goal is herd immunity, and we can’t achieve that unless people actually show up and get the vaccine.”
The Biden administration is spending about $ 10 billion from the coronavirus aid plan to expand access to vaccines through community health centers and increase vaccine uptake through support for plans such as door-to-door reach.
In early April, the government announced a broad network of 275 organizations – including sports leagues, business and faith groups – involved in a grassroots effort to build public confidence in the vaccines.
And with the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue plan adopted, the government wants to do more to address the virus’s adverse economic impact on American families and businesses.
“The response to the virus is the number 1 concern for voters. It was in the 2020 elections, it will be in the 2022 elections and probably the 2024 as well, ‘said Zac Petkanas, a former senior assistant of Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton Will Ocasio-Cortez Challenge Biden or Harris in 2024? What G. Gordon Liddy Taught Me About Civil Disagreement Hillary Clinton: Filibuster Must Be Lifted For Voting Law MORE“There is a huge political need for Democrats to not only get the health aspects of the response to the virus right, but also to get the economic response right.”