Coronavirus: Joe Biden vows 100 million shots in 100 days as US cases top 15 million
- US president-elect introduces his health care team and lays out goals for reversing the Covid-19 pandemic
- Trump holds ‘vaccine summit’ at White House, saying he will use executive powers if necessary to acquire sufficient doses
US President-elect Joe Biden introduced the team to lead his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, emphasising the mass vaccination distribution needed to achieve his goal of 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office.
The United States had recorded a total of more than 15 million infections on Tuesday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Biden said he needed Congress to fully fund vaccine distribution to all corners of the US. Getting children back to school will be a national priority in the first 100 days, Biden told a briefing in Wilmington, Delaware.
“In 100 days we can change the course of the disease and change life in America for the better,” Biden said. “Whatever your politics or point of view, mask up for 100 days.”
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Coronavirus vaccine: UK grandmother is first person outside trials to get Pfizer Covid-19 shot
Effective vaccines would help the Biden administration turn its focus to healing the ailing US economy. There was more positive news on Tuesday in the form of US Food and Drug Administration documents showing that the regulator did not raise any new issues about Pfizer’s vaccine safety or efficacy.