“I am confident that within the next three weeks we will be able to vaccinate people who are about 1 million a day or more,” he told reporters, explaining that he was referring to 100. million shots, not necessarily 100 million people, as some of the vaccines require more than one shot.
According to Biden, the most important factors are to promote vaccinations, enough vaccination, enough syringes and other necessary equipment and enough people administering it. He said his administration was producing additional vaccines – people who could administer the vaccine.
“I think with the grace of God, the goodness of the neighbor and the sprout that does not rise, as the old saying goes, I think we might get it 1.5 million a day, rather than 1 million a day, he said. said.
Biden’s announcement comes the same day that Pfizer and Moderna officials said it would take time to scale up the production of their vaccines.
President of Moderna, dr. Stephen Hoge, stated that vaccine manufacturers have an obligation to maintain quality and consistency as they increase capacity.
“It’s the frustrating thing about scaling up,” Hoge said.
The increase in vaccinations will not necessarily shift the target timeline for vaccination of anyone in the US who wants it.
The president said he thinks anyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get it by this spring, a target date similar to one set under the Trump administration.
Biden’s commitment to increase coronavirus vaccinations comes under a larger list of efforts the White House discussed Monday to address the coronavirus pandemic.
And with reporters, Biden also referred to the importance of creating a forum where Americans’ can show up, stand in line and get their vaccine without having to stand in line for eight hours – they can pick up the phone, call the pharmacy and get your name on the list (.) “
But the new efforts come amid ongoing confusion and urgent concern in various states over the supply and distribution of the coronavirus vaccine across the country.
Earlier Monday, New York City health commissioner David Chokshi told CNN that the city “does not have enough doses” of Covid-19 vaccine to “be able to meet the demand we know among New Yorkers. . ”
Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida’s capacity far outweighs the amount of vaccine the federal government receives. And the Republican governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, also said that the state “establishes the capacity to administer many more doses, then we receive or plan to receive them from the (federal government).”
Over the past two days, both Biden’s top spokesman, Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said they do not know what the current levels of the coronavirus vaccine are. Both blamed the Trump administration for the problem.
But when he spoke to the press on Monday, Biden claimed that his government did know how many coronavirus vaccines were available in the US. However, he did not disclose any concrete numbers.
“(We) are optimistic that we will have enough vaccine. And in a very short order. As you know, we came to the office without knowing how much vaccine is being taken into account. Now that we are here, we have been a week or so, we have it now, “Biden said.” And we got commitments from some producers that they would produce more vaccine in a relatively short period of time and then move on. “
This story has been updated with additional reporting.