The Biden administration will purchase 200 million more coronavirus vaccines and funnel more to states now, in a bid to deliver on the president's promise to curb the pandemic.
This report produced by Jillian Kitchener.
BIDEN: "I can announce that we will increase overall weekly vaccination distributions to states, tribes and territories from eight point six million doses to a minimum of 10 million doses." In a bid to deliver on his promise of vaccinating 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office, President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced his administration will funnel more coronavirus vaccines to states starting next week… "...that's an increase of one point four million doses per week." ...and plans to purchase 100 million more COVID vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer, for a total of 200 million.
"We expect these additional 200 million doses to be delivered this summer.
(flash) And that increases the total vaccine order in the United States by 50 percent.
From 400 million ordered to 600 million." Biden suggested the new purchases would be enough to inoculate 300 million Americans in what he's called a "war time effort." The president also promised to provide notice to states - three weeks in advance - of how much vaccine they would be getting in the future so they could plan accordingly.
"But until now we've had to guess how much vaccine to expect for the next week, and that's what the governors had to do - how much am I getting next week?
This is unacceptable.
Lives are at stake here." With the U.S. coronavirus death toll at more than 420,000 - Biden warned it could hit a sobering half a million by the end of February.
"Things are going to continue to get worse before they get better" The Biden administration - in the very early days - sent mixed messages about when exactly the vaccines will be fully administered.
On Tuesday, Biden pointed a finger at the Trump administration, saying he inherited a vaccine program that was in worse shape than expected.
