Biden’s speech, which lasts only 24 minutes, does not contain a large number of factual allegations. But here is an outline of some of the verifiable claims he made:
In the opening moments of his speech, Biden said: ‘A year ago we were hit by a virus that went silent and spread uncontrollably. Denials for days, weeks, then months. This has led to more deaths, more infections, more stress, and more loneliness. ”
In late January 2020, the White House announced that a coronavirus task force had declared a public health emergency, imposing travel restrictions on China. Trump spoke about the threat of the virus during a campaign at the end of January 2020 and in his State of the Nation address in early February 2020.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided January updates on the virus.
Biden could have accurately said that many of Trump’s early remarks about the virus were dismissive, impeccable, or inaccurate; Trump repeatedly stated in March 2020 that the out-of-control situation was under control. But it’s not true that Trump did not talk about the virus at all, and certainly not true that the government as a whole did not talk about it.
US vaccinations
Biden cites the number of people vaccinated in the U.S. during his speech and mentions that the country is “on track to achieve this goal of 100 million gunshots on my 60th day in office.”
“No other country in the world has done that. None,” Biden added.
Facts first: It is true that no country has vaccinated more people than the US, but it is noteworthy that there are a few smaller countries that have vaccinated a larger portion of their total population. So far, the US has administered vaccines to more than 95 million people, a higher number than any other country in the world. But 14 countries including Chile, Israel and the United Kingdom vaccinated more people per capita. It should be noted that these countries have much smaller populations.
Vaccinations for 65 and older
“When I took office 50 days ago, only 8% of Americans – after months – only 8% of those over the age of 65 got their first vaccination,” Biden said. “Today it’s 65%.”
Facts first: It is misleading and needs context. In the US, the first person received a vaccination dose outside of a clinical study December 14 and Biden took office on January 20 – so the vaccine was not available ‘months’ in advance as the president implied, although it was a reference to the length of the pandemic.
As for Biden’s claim that 65% of Americans over 65 received their first shot, it’s unclear whether Biden quoted different data, but according to data from the CDC, 62.4% of those 65 and older received it on Thursday. at least one does the vaccine, not 65%.
Earlier, as the Associated Press reported, an adviser on the administration’s virus task force on Wednesday wrongly claimed that 60% of this age group had been fully vaccinated, while Biden rightly noted that this number only refers to those who received at least one. dosage.
Vaccination provided
Biden described his government’s efforts to respond to the pandemic: ‘Two months ago, this country did not have nearly enough vaccine to vaccinate the entire American public. But we will do it soon. ‘
Facts first: It requires context and depends on how the vaccine supply is defined. If the vaccine supply is measured at doses ordered or under contract, the amount exceeded the U.S. population before Biden’s inauguration. But if it consisted of the amount of doses being distributed, the vaccine supply two months ago was not enough to vaccinate the entire American public.
From January 2021, “[u]according to data from DOD officials and representatives of the company that there are at least one billion doses of vaccines under contract, “according to a report from the government’s liability office. This includes 100 million doses for the three vaccines currently authorized in the US : Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson However, as of January 20, only about 36 million vaccine doses have been distributed and available for administration.According to the CDC, 131,131,470 vaccine doses were delivered on March 11, which is more than when Biden had two months ago took office, but only enough for about 40% of the U.S. population or a little over half the amount of U.S. adults to receive one dose.
Covid-19 deaths
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 527,726 Americans died of Covid-19 on March 11th. Biden claims “
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