President Joe Biden spent his first day in office signing executive orders for COVID-19 relief.
“Our national strategy is comprehensive. It’s based on science, not politics. It’s based on truth, not denial, and it’s detailed,” Biden said.
President Biden wants to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days. A reporter asked the president if his goal should be higher.
“When I announced, you all said it’s not possible,” he said. “Come on, give me a break, man.”
Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, believes that the president’s plan should cover 65 million to 70 million Americans.
“I think we can reach that goal and probably reach higher by focusing on how many people are being vaccinated for the first time each day,” Gottlieb said. “We can definitely reach many more patients.”
According to the New York Times, it may be impossible to increase the supply of vaccines before April because of the lack of manufacturing capacity.
“The brutal truth is it’s going to take months before we can get the majority of Americans vaccinated,” Biden said.
“What we’re inheriting is so much worse than we could have imagined,” Jeff Zients, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, said. “The cooperation or lack of cooperation from the Trump administration has been an impediment. We don’t have the visibility that we would hope to have into supply and allocations.”
The administration is asking Congress for $1.9 trillion for COVID-19 relief efforts.