President Biden’s “war effort” goal of vaccinating 100 million people against COVID-19 within 100 days is based on a daily average repeatedly given under former President Donald Trump.
According to Biden’s first full day in office on Thursday, 1.3 million Americans were vaccinated against the deadly coronavirus, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.
However, the same figures show that 1.3 million shots were fired on 11 January and that 1.1 million were given on 14 and 16 January.
Vaccinations also reached a record high of 1.6 million on Wednesday when Biden was sworn in according to the information.
Since his inauguration on Wednesday, the new commander-in-chief and his top spokesman have been repeatedly stressed by reporters about setting his immunization target too low.
During a Friday news conference in the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki was reminded that the average number of vaccinations last week was 912,497 before Trump left office – just shy of Biden’s goal.
“Given the urgent need for vaccinations, why not aim higher?” asks a reporter.
Psaki referred back to the vaccination plan Biden announced early last month, when he promised it would be the ‘most effective’ in US history.
“We set the goal before any American got a single shot,” Psaki said.
“The incoming Biden government therefore felt that it was important to set a brave and ambitious goal at the time, and many doubted that we could even get there. ‘
The reaction largely reflects the words of her boss, who growled on Thursday night for a White House reporter who questioned whether his plan was ambitious enough.
“This is actually where the US is right now,” the reporter said when Biden concluded an information session, in which he warned that it would take months to get the majority of Americans vaccinated.
“When I announced it, you all said it’s not possible,” Biden snapped. ‘Come, give me a break, man! This is a good start. ”
At her Friday briefing, Psaki also said the new government is still trying to find its “sea legs” and blamed the operational challenges for the outgoing Trump administration.
“We want to set up our own markers and markers for the American public so that they know we are achieving our goal. If we exceed that, it’s great, ‘she said of the 100-day target.
To date, 37.9 million shots of the newly approved miracles have been distributed nationwide, but according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, only 17.5 million have been administered.
Biden on Thursday unveiled a comprehensive plan he described as a “full-scale wartime effort” to defeat the pandemic by calling on the Defense Production Act to boost vaccine production and federally funded vaccination sites across the country to establish.
Many states still call for doses of the miracle cure. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have both warned that their closets will be open by Friday.