Biden goal: All adults eligible for shots by May 1
One year after the nation was brought to a near-standstill by the coronavirus, President Joe Biden used his first primetime address Thursday night to announce his plan to make all adults vaccineeligible by May 1 and “begin to mark our independence from this virus” by the Fourth of July.
He offered Americans fresh hope and appealed anew for their help.
Speaking in the White House East Room, Biden announced moves to speed vaccinations, including lifting eligibility qualifications, deploying an additional 4,000 active-duty troops to support vaccination efforts and allowing more people — such as medical students, veterinarians and dentists — to deliver shots.
He also is directing more doses toward some 950 community health centers and up to 20,000 retail pharmacies, to make it easier for people to get vaccinated closer to their homes.
His aim: let Americans gather at least in small groups for July Fourth and “make this Independence
Day truly special.”
Biden was marking one year since the onset of the pandemic that has killed more than 530,000 Americans and disrupted the lives of countless more.
“While it was different for everyone, we all lost something,” Biden said, calling the past year “a collective suffering, a collective sacrifice.”
Earlier Thursday, Biden signed into law a $1.9 trillion relief package that he said will help defeat the virus, nurse the economy back to health and deliver direct aid to Americans in need. Some direct checks could begin arriving this weekend.
“This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country,” Biden said as he signed the bill in the Oval Office.
Most noticeable to many Americans are provisions providing up to $1,400 in direct payments and extending $300 weekly emergency unemployment benefits into early September. Also included are expanded tax credits over the next year for children, child care and family leave — some of them credits that Democrats
have signaled they’d like to make permanent — plus spending for renters, feeding programs and people’s utility bills.
In his Thursday night address, Biden said that as vaccine supplies continue to increase, he will direct
states and territories to make all adults eligible for vaccination by May 1. The U.S. is expecting delivery of enough doses for those 255 million adults by the end of that month, but the process of actually administering those doses will take time.