‘I’ll move heaven and earth to get 100m vaccinated in 100 days’ – Biden

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has vowed that he would move “heaven and earth” to see that 100 million Americans are vaccinated within his first 100 days in office.

Biden made the pledge when he was unveiling his national Covid-19 plan on Thursday, while also calling out on the Donald Trump administration’s vaccine strategy as a “dismal failure.”

On the first day of his administration, Biden unveiled his national strategy for Covid-19 tagged ‘Response and Pandemic Preparedness,’ which involved 10 executive orders after statistics show that the US make up four per cent of the world’s population infections with 25 per cent of global Covid-19 deaths.

“For the past year, we couldn’t rely on the federal government to act with the urgency and focus and coordination we needed. And we have seen the tragic cost of that failure.

“Things are going to continue to get worse before they get better. The death toll will likely top 500,000 next months. It’s going to take months for us to turn this around,” Biden said in an address.

The Biden administration is now tasked with tackling the pandemic at a time when more than 400,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 and the country has over 24.5 million recorded cases.

Read also: US covid-19 death toll likely to top 500,000 next month –Biden

“Help is on the way,” Biden added before unveiling parts of his national strategy.

“The federal government should be the source of truth for the public to get clear, accessible, and scientifically accurate information about Covid-19. We will be honest, transparent, and straightforward with the American people to rebuild trust.

“Our plans start with mounting an aggressive, safe and effective vaccination campaign. This will be one of the greatest operational challenges our nation has ever taken, and we’re committed to getting it done. We will move heaven and earth to get people vaccinated for free.”

On Wednesday, Biden had directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to create “federally supported community vaccination centres” across the United States, with the goal of at least 100 of the centres to be created within the next month.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will also be launching its own federal vaccination programme within the next month that would make vaccines available to pharmacies in local communities.

This initiative started on day one of the Biden administration with Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, appearing at the White House press briefing to update the public on the virus and answer reporter questions.

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