The Americans will have to wait ‘months’ before anyone who wants a Covid-19 vaccine can get one and Congress’ funding is’ essential’, the Coronavirus task force in the White House warned – in its first public briefing under Joe Biden.
The sober assessment came as the task force sought to give a new tone of transparency, after last year’s television briefings became infamous about then-President Donald Trump’s political stance, claiming the virus would “disappear” and promises’ miracle cures’.
Biden, on the other hand, was not present on Wednesday. “The White House respects and follows science, and the scientists will speak independently,” Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House for Covid response, told reporters.
“At the moment, I want to make it clear to the public that we are facing two limiting factors. The first is to get stock fast enough and the second to apply the vaccines quickly once they are produced and sent to the sites. ”
Slavitt added: “We are taking action to increase supply and increase capacity, but it will still take months before anyone who wants a vaccine can get it.”
Biden is under pressure to accelerate vaccinations nationwide after a sluggish start under Trump. The task force has so far this week reached its target of one million vaccinations per day. Overall, it has delivered 47 million doses to states and long-term care institutions and has administered approximately 24 million so far.
The president on Tuesday planned to buy an extra 200 million vaccine dose from Moderna and Pfizer. And Slavitt said the task force has identified twelve areas where Biden has approved the use of the Defense Production Act – a law that requires private companies to prioritize federal government orders – to increase production. But the White House says it cannot resolve the crisis alone.
Biden has introduced a 1.9-tonne coronavirus bill to Congress that includes funding to administer vaccines, increase testing and help reopen schools and businesses. But many Republicans have already objected, raising fears that the rescue effort will be disliked.
Task Force coordinator Jeffrey Zients said it was “essential” that Congress pass the law. “To get the Americans vaccinated, we need Congress to guarantee money for vaccinations. We still do too few tests in this country; we need to increase the test significantly. We need Congress to fund more tests to reopen schools and businesses. ”
He added: ‘Believe it or not, we still have shortages of PBT and other critical materials. We need emergency funds to make sure we have the materials. These are just three of the key areas that need to be funded by Congress to implement the president’s national plan. ”
The pandemic remains Biden’s top priority. The U.S. now has more than 25 million cases and 425,406 deaths. Rochelle Walensky, the new head of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, said her agency’s latest forecast indicated that the country would record between 479,000 and 514,000 deaths by February 20.
The task force urged people to continue wearing masks, washing their hands and taking their physical distance to mitigate the spread of the virus as the cases are extremely high.
Wednesday’s briefing was conducted virtually, rather than personally in the White House, to enable questions from health journalists, but encountered technical errors. When the turn of infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci showed the words ‘Science Update by Dr Anthony Fauci’ with the White House logo, there was a long silence. Six colleagues could be seen in windows at the side of the screen. One holds up a sign that says, “We can not hear you.”
Fauci, who admits he has been freed from Trump’s carp and disinformation, said there was cause for concern about the so-called South African variant of the virus, as laboratory tests have shown that it has the protective power of the vaccines approved so far. is, can reduce. But Fauci emphasizes that the level of protection is still good within what he calls the ‘cushion’ of vaccine effectiveness.
One vaccine still being tested is being measured on the effectiveness of the South African variant and another species that originated in Brazil, Fauci added. “We will always want to take a step or two ahead of what could be a problem in the future.”
The US is only 43rd in the world in terms of detecting genetic variants of Covid-19, but a situation described by Zients as “completely unacceptable”.
In another interruption from Trump, the task force briefings will take place regularly, with the following on Friday. Biden told reporters this week: ‘We bring back the benefits of talking about Covid in an unmanned manner. Any questions you have, so we will deal with it because we let science speak again. ”