President moves up goal for vaccine eligibility
Sets April 19 deadline for states to line up adults
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he’s bumping up his deadline by two weeks for states to make all adults in the U.S. eligible for coronavirus vaccines. But even as he expressed optimism about the pace of vaccinations, he warned Americans that the nation is not yet out of the woods when it comes to the pandemic.
“Let me be deadly earnest with you: We aren’t at the finish line. We still have a lot of work to do. We’re still in a life and death race against this virus,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.
“New variants of the virus are spreading and they’re moving quickly,” the president said. “Cases are going back up, hospitalizations are no longer declining.”
He added that “the pandemic remains dangerous” and encouraged Americans to continue to wash their hands, socially distance and wear masks.
Biden said that while his administration is on schedule to meet his new goal of distributing 200 million doses of the vaccine during his first 100 days, it will still take time for enough Americans to get vaccinated to slow the spread of the virus.
But he expressed hope that his Tuesday announcement, that every adult will be eligible by April 19 to sign up and get in a virtual line to be vaccinated, will help expand access and distribution of the vaccine. Some states, including New Mexico, already had begun moving up their deadlines from the original May 1 goal.
“No more confusing rules. No more confusing restrictions,” Biden said.
Biden made the announcement after visiting a COVID-19 vaccination site at Immanuel Chapel at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. During his visit, he thanked everyone for administering the shots and for showing up to receive them.
“That’s the way to beat this,” Biden said. “Get the vaccination when you can.”