Vaccines will bring freedom, says Biden
JOE BIDEN said he is hopeful speeding up US Covid-19 vaccination efforts will allow Americans to gather in small groups on the fourth of July to celebrate a “truly special” Independence Day.
He also said in his first primetime address since becoming president he would order the states to make all adults eligible for jabs by May 1, with eligibility currently based on age and health conditions.
Mr Biden announced moves to increase vaccinations, including lifting eligibility qualifications, deploying an additional 4,000 active-duty troops to support vaccination efforts and allowing more people to deliver shots.
He marked one year since the onset of the pandemic that has killed more than 530,000 Americans. “While it was different for everyone, we all lost something,” he said, calling the past year “a collective suffering, a collective sacrifice.”
He predicted Americans could safely gather at least in small groups on July 4 to “make this Independence Day truly special”.
But he also cautioned that this was a “goal” and attaining it depends on people’s cooperation in following public health guideliness, wearing masks and getting vaccinated as soon as eligible.
It comes as Thailand has said it will delay use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine after several European countries temporarily suspended the jabs following a small
number of reports of blood clots. Yong Poovorawan, an adviser to Thailand’s vaccination programme, said the delay, pending an investigation into the cause of reported side-effects, will not have a big impact on the rollout.
It came as AstraZeneca released a new statement saying there was no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis with the vaccine. It said that, in fact, the occurrence was
“significantly lower” in those who have been vaccinated than what would be expected among the general population.
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has said there is no evidence to suggest the vaccine causes blood clot problems, and that people should still get their Covid-19 jab when asked to do so. The European Medicines Agency has also backed the jab’s safety and said there have been 30 reports of blood clots among close to five million people given the vaccine across Europe.
On Thursday, Denmark, Norway and Iceland said they were temporarily halting AstraZeneca vaccinations to investigate reports of blood clots.
Meanwhile, a wave of new infections is sweeping across the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, driven mainly by new virus variants that are more contagious. Serbia was among the countries implementing new restrictions.