Biden pitches mask mandate, vaccine plan

On a day when the federal government outlined a sweeping plan to make vaccines for COVID-19 available to all Americans when proven safe and effective, Joe Biden spelt out his own ideas for a national mask mandate, as well as vaccine distribution plan, if he's elected president.

Biden told reporters his advisers believe a mask mandate would be legal "based upon the degree to which there is a crisis in those states, and how bad things are for the country."

He said he would bring the nation's governors to the White House and make the case why it's necessary nationally.

"I'd say we have to have this national mandate. We must do it."

In a report to Congress and an accompanying “playbook” for states and localities, federal health agencies and the Defense Department sketched out complex plans for a vaccination campaign to begin gradually in January or even late this year, eventually ramping up to reach any American who wants a shot.

CDC Director Robert Redfield told lawmakers that any vaccine available in November or December would be in “very limited supply,” and reserved for first responders and people most vulnerable to COVID-19.

The shot wouldn’t be broadly available until the spring or summer of 2021, he estimated.

Biden outlined his own vaccine plan when spoke to reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, after being briefed by public health experts about a potential vaccine.

“I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump, and at this moment, the American people can’t, either, Biden said.”

Asked whether his comments could undermine public trust in scientists, Biden said the vaccine approval process should be “totally transparent” and it should be evaluated by a “board of scientists” that could give the public an unbiased opinion.