‘He did not do his job’: Biden slams Trump’s vaccine preparedness while announcing US ‘on track’ with dose supply
'He did not order enough vaccines ... It was a big mess. It’s going to take time to fix'
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Your support makes all the difference.President Joe Biden has slammed his predecessor for his lack of preparedness when it came to setting up the United States' vaccine supply, while announcing the country had finalised its contracts for 200 million additional Covid-19 doses.
"While scientists did their job in discovering vaccines in record time, my predecessor — I’ll be very blunt about it — did not do his job in getting ready for the massive challenge of vaccinating hundreds of millions," Mr Biden said at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Thursday.
"He did not order enough vaccines ... It was a big mess. It’s going to take time to fix," Mr Biden added.
The Trump administration created Operation Warp Speed, a federal agency responsible for managing Covid-19 vaccine research, manufacturing, distribution, and administration. But where the administration received criticism was for how it left it up to states on administering doses. Mr Trump also reportedly declined purchasing more supply.
Mr Biden announced that his administration finalised contracts with Pfizer and Moderna on Thursday to purchase an additional 100 million vaccine doses from each company.
In total, the federal government has purchased 600 million vaccine doses between the two companies, which would vaccinate 300 million Americans.
"We've now purchased enough vaccine to vaccinate all Americans," Mr Biden said, calling the supply "doses of hope" to get the United States back to normal from the pandemic.
He added that the country was on track to have enough doses for 300 million Americans by the end of July based on when Pfizer and Moderna would be able to deliver this additional supply.
Additionally Pfizer and Moderna were "contractually obligated" to expedite 100 million vaccine doses to be delivered by the end of May. Initially those doses were not anticipated until the end of June, Mr Biden said.
Ramping up the mass vaccination campaign in the United States was one point of focus for the Biden administration in responding to the novel virus.
Mr Biden made the pledge to administer at least 100 million vaccines within his first 100 days of office.
“I believe we’ll not only reach that but we’ll break that," the president said about the goal.
The United States was administering an average of 1.5 million vaccine doses per day, the White House coronavirus response team revealed during a press briefing this week.
About one in every 10 Americans has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The federal government has distributed more than 68 million vaccine doses and 46.3 million have been administered, as of 11 February.
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