Two vaccines but no handover, Joe Biden warns of more Covid deaths unless Trump cooperates

United States President-elect Joe Biden has warned that more people may die from the COVID-19 pandemic because of the Trump administration's refusal to coordinate on the issue. Biden, while speaking from Delaware, called out incumbent Donald Trump for allegedly obstructing his COVID-19 response by stalling the smooth transition of the incoming administration as he dubbed the Republican leader's action as "totally irresponsible". 

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"Does anyone understand this? It's about saving lives, for real, this is not hyperbole. More people may die if we don't coordinate," a furious Biden said in his speech on Monday. One of the first things that Biden did as President-elect of the United States was to set-up a COVID-19 task force. Biden has been urging Mayors and Governors to make face masks mandatory and is calling for increasing testing and manufacturing of PPE kits. This comes even as two US vaccines have now shown promise in phase 3 trials.

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Trump refuses to concede defeat

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has refused to accept he lost the recently concluded election to Joe Biden, and instead, he is filing lawsuits in several states challenging the count. Trump has been repeatedly claiming on Twitter that "he won" the election and at the same time is also blaming poll officials for his loss, which has left many confused about his plans for January 20, when Biden would be formally inaugurated as President of the United States. 

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Donald Trump is accusing poll officials of "illegally" counting postal ballots that arrived after 8 p.m on the final voting day, especially in key swing states of Pennsylvania and Georgia that saw Biden surpass the magic 270-mark after the former vice-president secured a massive lead. However, experts argue that poll officials were following a court order that had allowed counting of postal ballots for three additional days after November 3 unless stamped on the final voting day or before. 

Pertinently, Trump has thus far shown no inclination to initiate transition and handover activities, making it difficult for the prospective Biden administration to get its hands on key information and ongoing strategies, such as the Vaccine distribution plan (if any) charted by Trump's officials. Instead, Trump has gone on a spree replacing Mark Esper as Secretary of Defence as well as other top Defence Department staff, with analysts indicating he wishes to pull troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan a clip faster than the Pentagon would like.

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(Image Credit: AP)