Extreme winter weather delays 6M doses across country.
PORTAGE, Mich. — President Joe Biden toured a state-of-the art coronavirus vaccine plant Friday, intent on showcasing progress even as extreme winter weather across the U.S. handed his vaccination campaign its first major setback, delaying shipment of about 6 million doses and causing temporary closures of inoculation sites in many communities.
While acknowledging the weather is “slowing up the distribution,” Biden said at the Pfizer plant in Michigan that he believes “we’ll be approaching normalcy by the end of this year.” He also made a vigorous pitch for his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, addressing GOP critics who say it’s too big and asking, “What would they have me cut?”
“Should we not invest 20 billion dollars to vaccinate the nation?” Biden asked. “Should we not invest 50 billion dollars to help small businesses stay open when tens of thousands have had to close permanently?”
“How many people do you know will go to bed tonight staring at the ceiling saying, ‘God, what is going to happen if I don’t get my job, if I don’t have my unemployment check?’ ” Biden added.
“I could go on, but you get the point.”
Biden spoke as the House prepares to take up the legislation next week, with Senate action to follow.
The disruptions caused by frigid temperatures, snow and ice have left the White House and states scrambling to make up lost ground as three days’ worth of vaccine shipments were temporarily delayed. Even the president’s trip to see Pfizer’s largest plant was pushed back a day due to a storm affecting the nation’s capital.
Before the trip, White House coronavirus response adviser Andy Slavitt said the federal government, states and local vaccinators are going to have to redouble efforts to catch up after the interruptions. The setback comes just as the vaccination campaign seemed to be on the verge of hitting its stride. All the backlogged doses should be delivered in the next several days,
Slavitt said, still confident that the pace of vaccinations will recover.
Biden has set a goal of administering 100 million shots in his administration’s first 100 days, and he said Friday that’s still on track and it’s only a beginning.
He went on to say that by the end of July his administration can deliver 600 million doses for Americans.
“I believe we’ll be approaching normalcy by the end of this year,” he said. “God willing, this Christmas will be different than last, but I can’t make that commitment to you.”
Taking a swipe at former President Donald Trump, whom he did not cite by name, Biden allowed that the previous administration shepherded the approval of two highly effective vaccines. But “it’s one thing to have a vaccine available, the problem was how to get to people’s arms.”
The Pfizer plant Biden toured, near Kalamazoo, produces one of the two federally approved COVID-19 shots. Weather-related delays have affected distribution of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Introducing Biden before the speech, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla called his administration “a great ally” and cited a range of actions that have helped the company as it looked for ways to increase production. In a press release, the company said it has been shipping 5 million doses a week in the U.S. on average, and expects to more than double that by the end of March.
White House adviser Slavitt said the 6 million doses delayed won’t spoil and the vaccine is “safe and sound” under refrigeration.
But as shipments resume and scale up, vaccinators in communities across the country are going to have to work overtime to get shots into arms. “We as an entire nation will have to pull together to get back on track,” Slavitt told reporters at the White House coronavirus briefing.
Still, the government is going ahead with plans to open five new mass vaccination centers, one in Philadelphia, and four others in the Florida cities of Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville.