U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that the coronavirus vaccine program he inherited from Donald Trump was in “much worse shape” than he had expected, urging patience and also announcing that the government has bought 200 million more doses.
“We’re not going to fix everything for a while, but we’re going to fix it,” Biden said in a comment at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
With demand for the vaccine far above supply, Americans are struggling to get orders for their inoculations, leaving Biden in real trouble less than a month after taking over from Trump.
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Biden said Trump, who spent his last two months in office in a futures effort to miss the November 3 presidential election results, did not get enough vaccinations and did not do enough to convince people. applied to get the vaccine.
He said the vaccination program he had acquired was in “much worse shape” than he had expected and that his transition team had been misled about the supply of the vaccine.
“While scientists have done their job of finding vaccines in an unprecedented time, my ancestors – I will be very serious about it – have not done their job in preparing for the Vaccination of hundreds of millions is a major challenge, ”said Biden.
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Brian Morgenstern, a former White House official involved in the coronavirus effort, said the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed program had prepared plans in advance, with the support of many career officials still serving in the government.
“That is why the aims of the new Administration were achieved before they were even introduced. Enough with the lies, apologies & political pot scenes. Time to lead, ”he said.
Trump had been proud of the pace of vaccine development on his watch.
Biden said the U.S. coronavirus death toll is likely to reach 500,000 next month. He urged Americans to wear masks to prevent the spread.
“We have now purchased enough vaccines for all Americans to be vaccinated,” Biden said.
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He said the U.S. government has signed contracts for 100 million doses of the Moderna vaccine and an additional 100 million from Pfizer to help reach the target.
“We appreciate the confidence shown by the US government in our COVID-19 vaccine,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a press release.
Pfizer spokesman Sharon Castillo confirmed that he and BioNTech had reached an agreement with the US government.
“We will deliver 100 million doses by the end of March, a total of 200 million doses by the end of May, and the 300 million total doses by the end of July,” she said.
The new vaccine prescriptions, in addition to previously received 400 million doses, allowed the United States to vaccinate 300 million people vaccinated by July 31 using doses from the two authorized vaccines.
That would be enough for most people in the 330 million population who want it, as both vaccines are not authorized for children and many people have said they do not want shots.
In addition, Johnson & Johnson ‘s vaccine candidate is likely to be approved later this month, and the company expects to deliver 100 million doses of the one – shot vaccine to the United States by mid – year. .