» Biden sets new goal of 200 million vaccine shots.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday set a new goal of 200 million vaccine shots in his first 100 days in office, making that announcement Thursday at the start of his first formal news conference as president at the White House.

He also said he plans to seek reelection in 2024.

“My plan is to run for re-election. That’s my expectation,” said Biden, who’ll turn 82 in 2024.

Biden opened his news conference by announcing that he would double his goal of administering 100 million coronavirus vaccination shots to Americans by his 100th day in office.

“That’s right, 200 million shots in 100 days,” Biden said.

Biden called the goal “ambitious,” but the United States is already on pace to meet it.

The country has been averaging about 2.5 million doses a day in the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At that pace, the nation would hit Biden’s goal before April 30, his 100th day.

Biden noted that he set his original goal Dec. 8, before taking office.

“We met that goal last week,” he said.

He also left the door open backing fundamental changes to in

Senate procedure to muscle key parts of his agenda such as immigration and voting rights past Republican opposition “if there’s complete lockdown and chaos.”

Biden is grappling with how to deliver on a host of big promises despite a razor-thin Senate majority. He teased that changes to Senate rules that would allow bills to pass with fewer votes may be necessary for him to achieve some of those goals.

“If there’s complete lockdown and chaos, as a consequence of the filibuster, then we’re going to have to go beyond what I’m talking about,” he said.

One key item on his agenda: Republican efforts to limit voting rights, an effort the president deemed “sick” and “un-american.”

He argued that even GOP voters believe actions that make it harder for people to cast ballots are “despicable” attempts to undermine democracy.

And in the aftermath of two mass shootings in a week, Biden was pressed on his plans for new gun violence laws. He responded that legislating is “a matter of timing” and then gave a longwinded answer about his infrastructure plan, which he said will be his administration’s next legislative priority.

He plans to detail the package at an event next week in Pittsburgh.

“The next major initiative … is to rebuild the infrastructure, both physical and technological infrastructure of this country, so that we can compete and create significant numbers of really good-paying jobs, really good-paying jobs,” he said.

Biden said that Republicans used to put a priority on building roads, bridges and other forms of infrastructure and lamented that the United States now lags many countries, including China, in the investment it makes.

“I still think the majority of the American people don’t like the fact that we now rank … 85th in the world in infrastructure,” he said. “I mean, look, the future rests on whether or not we have the best airports that can accommodate air travel, ports that you can get out of quickly. … So there’s so much we can do.”