President-elect Joe Biden will speak in Wilmington, Delaware on Jan. 14.
Photographer: Alex Wong / Getty Images
Photographer: Alex Wong / Getty Images
President-elect Joe Biden suggested revising the authorization rules for coronavirus vaccines and opening more sites for distribution, but his plan to significantly ramp up US vaccinations largely preserves the bones of the Trump administration’s system.
Ahead of comments in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden’s office has released changes he would make to increase vaccination coverage. His commitments are vague about timelines, confirming Biden’s earlier warnings that there will be no quick fix for the virus’s spread in the US.
‘We didn’t get into this overnight. And we don’t get out overnight, either, ”Biden said. “We are staying in a very dark winter.”
Biden and his aides have increasingly criticized the Trump administration’s vaccine rollout, which falls well short of its vaccination goals. But the president-elect’s plan amounts to a review of Trump’s efforts, not a rewrite.
‘The rollout of vaccines in the United States has been a dismal failure so far, ”he said. Five changes, he said, will help the US reach its goal of 100 million doses in its first 100 days of function. Biden said he would ask people to “mask” – call it a “patriotic act” – 100 days after his inauguration – and make face masks mandatory on federal property and for interstate travel.
“You have my word: we’ll save it from this operation,” he said.
Biden asks Americans to ‘mask’ for 100 days, criticizing GOP
As president, Biden will encourage states to move away from a complex set of priority groups used to triage vaccinations and instead focus on giving shots to key primary care workers and everyone 65 and older, according to a announcement Friday by his transition agency. He plans to set up community vaccination centers and mobile clinics and make a “jump-start” effort to make injections available at pharmacies.
The implementation of priority groups has been science-driven, but “has been too rigid and confusing,” said Biden. “There are tens of millions of doses of vaccine hanging around unused in freezers across the country,” while people who want vaccinations can’t get them, he said. However, part of the delay is due to bottlenecks at the state level.
He said he would instruct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to begin setting up community vaccination sites on his first day of work, in locations such as gymnasiums, sports stadiums and community centers. “Mobile clinics moving from community to community” will work together with local health professionals to get vaccinations in “hard-to-reach” communities, he said. Bechara Choucair, Biden’s vaccine coordinator, said there will be 100 vaccination sites by the end of February.
Pharmacy plans
Biden’s administration will also work more closely with pharmacies to administer vaccines, although it was not clear how he would improve the partnerships they have already made with the government. It’s also not clear if they’ll be getting doses anytime soon, with states still clamoring for more.
Biden also said he would use the Defense Production Act to boost the production of vaccines and the supplies to administer them, such as vials and needles. The announcement was few in detail.
“I’ve already asked the team and we’ve identified the suppliers who are willing to work with our teams,” he said.
His fourth change, he said, is a previously announced plan to release more first doses of vaccines and keep less in reserve for second doses. The Trump administration announced it would change this week. Biden said his administration would not change the recommended dosing schedules that prompt people to receive a booster shot three or four weeks after their first dose.
His fifth change, he said, will be more transparency to the vaccine program, including regular updates on progress in vaccinating the population.
Biden’s team on Friday appointed former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler as chief science officer of what it calls its Covid response. They are retiring with the name Operation Warp Speed that President Donald Trump used for the vaccination effort. Kessler will replace Moncef Slaoui, who served as the initiative’s lead scientist, and Kessler will focus on administering the vaccine.
Biden is preparing to be sworn in under heavy surveillance next week in the wake of a deadly January 6 riot at the Capitol, and against the backdrop of a raging pandemic, that’s the biggest crisis of his burgeoning presidency. The US set records for the number of daily deaths from the coronavirus this week – there were 3,899 on Thursday alone – as new cases and current hospital admissions hover near record levels.
Auxiliary package
The president-elect unveiled his pandemic plan the day before, proposing a $ 1.9 trillion package that will face hurdles in Congress. On Friday, he further elaborated the vaccination plan, some of which are dependent on the approval of a new bill. For example, he pledged to hire 100,000 public health workers to help with vaccinations and contact tracking.
Biden’s vaccination attempt for front-line workers includes teachers and grocery store workers, as well as health care workers.
The Trump administration has tried to facilitate a painstaking vaccine rollout. Since coronavirus vaccines were introduced in the US in mid-December, 11.9 million doses have been delivered, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker. That represents only 39% of the shots distributed.
The rollout is racing against the clock. The US has had more than 23 million confirmed cases and regularly registers 250,000 new cases every day. About 389,000 Americans have died, while the US is on the way to 400,000 dead from Biden’s inauguration.
(Updates with more details everywhere.)