Published 12:09 IST, February 12th 2021
Biden says Trump 'didn't do his job', COVID vaccination program was in 'much worse shape'
Biden on February 11 said that coronavirus vaccination program he inherited from his predecessor Donald Trump was in “much worse shape” than he had expected.
US President Joe Biden on February 11 said that coronavirus vaccination program he inherited from his predecessor Donald Trump was in “much worse shape” than he had expected. In remarks at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, Biden urged patience and said that the government has brought 200 million more doses. He said that his administration is not going to have everything fixed for a while, however, he added that he is going to fix it.
The newly minted President said that Trump, who spent his last two months in office in a futile effort to overturn the results of the November 3 presidential election, did not order enough vaccine and did not do enough to get people lined up to get vaccinated. Biden said that the vaccine programme he inherited was is much worse share that he had anticipated and that his team had been misled about the vaccine supply. Further, he added that while scientists did their job in discovering vaccines in record time, his predecessor did not do his job in getting ready for the massive challenge of vaccinating hundreds of millions.
Biden even went on to inform that the US government has signed contracts for 100 million doses of the Moderna vaccine and 100 million more from Pfizer. He said that the US coronavirus death toll is likely to reach 500,000 next month. He also urged Americans to wear masks to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. The President informed that the United States, which has a population of about 330 million, was on track to have 300 million doses by the end of July.
Biden team sees signs of improvement
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has said that it is seeing the first signs of improvement in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic, even though officials say they are far from celebrating. Ever since Biden took office, the pace of vaccinations have accelerated and the rate of new coronavirus cases are dropping. The Biden administration has also inked new deals with existing vaccine suppliers and has promised the new vaccine candidates are still on the horizon.
They have even managed to give states a clear estimate of how many vaccine doses they’ll receive. However, officials are aware that they are in a critical period. It is worth mentioning that the United States is the worst-hit country due to the virus with over 27 million infected cases and nearly 475,000 deaths so far.
Updated 12:07 IST, February 12th 2021