Biden moves up vaccine access timeline
Wants shots open to all adults by April 19
WASHINGTON – President Biden announced Tuesday that he moved up his call for all U.S. adults to become eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine to April 19, almost two weeks sooner than his initial goal of May 1.
“Everyone is going to be able to do this before the month is out,” Biden said, touring a pop-up vaccination site at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria before delivering a warning not to become complacent about the virus.
Biden wants to eliminate any confusion for Americans about whether they are eligible to be vaccinated, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
“That doesn’t mean they will get it that day,” Psaki said. “It means they can join the line.”
Wisconsin opened vaccination to all residents 16 and older on Monday. As of Tuesday, 33% of the state’s population has had at least one shot and 20% are fully vaccinated.
The administration is sending a message to seniors – one of the most vulnerable populations – to get their
shots because lines are about to become longer. Seventy-five percent of those 65 and older have gotten at least one shot, and more than half are fully vaccinated, according to the government.
“You’re doing the right thing,” Biden told Virginians waiting to get vaccinated. He jokingly asked a man about to receive a shot if it would help if Biden held his hand.
“Man, you’ve got biceps as big as my thighs,” Biden exclaimed when he saw the man’s exposed upper arm.
Using federal guidance on priority populations and projections on vaccine shipments, states have been making their own decisions about when residents can get vaccinated.
Psaki said the faster timeline is possible because of the increased vaccine supply and distribution points.
During the administration’s weekly call with governors Tuesday, COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said more than 28 million doses will be distributed this week.
In remarks on the state of vaccinations at the White House later in the afternoon, Biden boasted that the United States is the first country to administer 150 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, on track to meet the president’s goal of administering 200 million shots in his first 100 days in office.
“But there’s also some bad news,” Biden said.
New variants are spreading quickly, in part because it takes time to get everyone vaccinated and also, he said, because too many people “think we’re at the finish line already.”
The real question, he said, is how much death, disease and misery there will be until most people are vaccinated.
“We’re still in a life-and-death race against this virus,” Biden said.
Biden announced last week that 90% of all American adults would be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by April 19 and directed the federal government to ensure that the same percentage of Americans live within 5 miles of a vaccination site.
Oregon announced Tuesday that all residents age 16 and older can get the vaccine as of April 19, leaving Hawaii as the only state that hasn’t moved up the May 1 deadline.
New York and Maryland opened vaccine eligibility to those 16 or older Tuesday, the day after 12 states did the same. Those states are Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Michigan, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
The U.S. continues to report a high level of cases, with 452,636 cases reported in the week ending Monday, a 20% increase from two weeks earlier.
The U.S. has continued to ramp up its pace of daily vaccinations, with an average of more than 3 million doses administered a day, compared with less than 1 million in January, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.