Biden on vaccine distribution plan, inauguration

President-elect Joe Biden says the Trump administration's plan for distributing an approved coronavirus vaccine to the public lacks important detail.Biden said Friday that "there's no detailed plan that we've seen" for how to get vaccines out of a container, into syringes and into people's arms. He says more equitable distribution is also needed to get the vaccine into underserved communities, not just to drugstores and large retailers. Biden noted that Black people and Latinos are more likely to die of COVID-19 than white people are.Biden says the "equity side" is an important part of the process, too.

He says he's working on an "overall plan" and adds that's why he asked government infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci to be part of Biden's COVID-19 team and to serve as his chief medical adviser Biden says the Trump administration has diminished confidence in science so much that it will take some time and effort to rebuild it across the board, including convincing people that the coronavirus vaccines are safe.

He said Friday that he's bothered by what he said were "wild assertions" President Donald Trump has made about the virus going away on its own. He noted how Trump once suggested that perhaps scientists could come up with a way that injecting bleach would kill the coronavirus.

Biden also says keeping people safe is his first consideration for his Jan. 20 inauguration, making it "highly unlikely" that a million people will pack the National Mall for his swearing-in during the coronavirus pandemic.Biden was asked about inauguration planning during a news conference Friday in Wilmington, Delaware. He suggested that the festivities could end up looking like the largely virtual convention Democrats held in August, with online activity in the states.

Biden says his team is talking with congressional leaders about their plans for the inauguration. The swearing-in ceremony and a lunch for the new president and vice president are held at the Capitol.Biden says he wants people to be able to celebrate safely. He says, "There will probably not be a gigantic inaugural parade." He says details are still being worked out.

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