Coronavirus: Joe Biden says all US adults to be eligible for vaccine by April 19
- US president warns that nation is still in ‘life and death race’ against the virus as he unveils new vaccine roll-out goals
- Biden says 150 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been shot into arms since his inauguration
US President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he’s bumping up his deadline by two weeks for states to make all adults in the US eligible for coronavirus vaccines.
But even as he expressed optimism about the pace of vaccinations, he warned Americans that the nation is not yet out of the woods when it comes to the pandemic.
“Let me be deadly earnest with you: we aren’t at the finish line. We still have a lot of work to do. We’re still in a life and death race against this virus,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.
The president warned that “new variants of the virus are spreading and they’re moving quickly. Cases are going back up, hospitalisations are no longer declining.”
He added that “the pandemic remains dangerous,” and encouraged Americans to continue to wash their hands, socially distance and wear masks.
Biden added that while his administration is on schedule to meet his new goal of distributing 200 million doses of the vaccine during his first 100 days, it will still take time for enough Americans to get vaccinated to slow the spread of the virus.
But he expressed hope that his Tuesday announcement, that every adult will be eligible by April 19 to sign up and get in a virtual line to be vaccinated, will help expand access and distribution of the vaccine.