Elected President Joe Biden plans to hit the Trump administration Tuesday because he falls short of the rate of American vaccination against Covid, a transitional official said.
“As (Biden) has done since the beginning of this crisis, he will be honest and straightforward with the American people on what lies ahead, and the current government will pay attention to its pace of vaccinations,” the official said.
The Trump administration’s distribution efforts against vaccines are starting slower than officials predicted after a number of unforeseen brackets, highlighting the logistical complexity of the powerful effort.
Officials working on Trump’s Operation Warp Speed have said they plan to distribute 20 million doses of the vaccine by the end of the year, compared to the 100 million doses Trump predicted in September. the year is sent out.
But although the federal government said Monday that 11.5 million of the vaccine has been sent to the states so far, only about 2 million people have received their first dose, according to data compiled by NBC News of federal and state agencies.
At the current rate of about one million shots per week, the US will be much less than predictions by Trump administration officials that every person who wants a shot will be able to get it by spring, Dr. . Celine Gounder, a member of Biden’s Covid-19 advisory board, and Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. It will require millions of shots to be fired every day for months so that the country can return to a degree of normalcy by spring.
Biden has promised to give 100 million shots in his first hundred days in office.
Elected Vice President Kamala Harris will also receive the vaccine on Tuesday, just over a week after Biden received his first dose of the vaccine live on television.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading specialist in infectious diseases, recommended that Biden and Harris be vaccinated as soon as possible for national security reasons.
Biden’s remarks about the ongoing Covid crisis and vaccination program will come on the heels of President Donald Trump’s Sunday night signing the $ 2.3 billion government funding and coronavirus relief package, and avoiding the closure of the government.
Biden criticized Trump over the weekend for advocating the signing of the bill, calling it a “waiver of responsibility.”
Biden’s remarks about Covid on Tuesday also come as Capitol Hill struggles over whether to increase coronavirus stimulus checks to $ 2,000, as Trump has insisted.
The Democratic-controlled House passed a bill Monday night to increase direct payments to coronavirus relief, though the measure faces an uphill battle in the Senate.
Biden said Monday he supports increase direct payments to $ 2,000.
Meanwhile, the Joint Congress Committee on Inauguration Ceremonies also announced on Tuesday that they had canceled the traditional Inauguration Day lunch on January 20 with the newly sworn president and vice president, citing health issues.
“In view of the ongoing pandemic, the JCCIC, in consultation with the presidential inauguration committee, has decided not to proceed with the presentation of the traditional inauguration afternoon,” said Paige Waltz, a spokesman for the JCCIC, adding that more announcements be made at the various inauguration ceremonies that usually take place at the American Capitol.
