Newsman: President Joe Biden said, the U.S. will have enough supply of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the summer to inoculate 300 million Americans.
Biden made the announcement Thursday at the National Institutes of Health complex just outside Washington as he visited some of the nation’s leading scientists on the frontlines of the fight against the disease.
Speaking with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease specialist, Biden emphasized that his administration is doing everything possible to increase the vaccine supply and the country’s capacity to deliver injections into arms.
“It’s been a hell of a learning process,” Biden said.
Biden announced that the U.S. had secured contractual commitments from Moderna and Pfizer to deliver the 600 million doses of vaccine by the end of July — more than a month earlier than initially anticipated.
“We’re now on track to have enough supply for 300 million Americans by the end of July,” he announced.
“That’s just the floor,” Biden said. “Our end goal is beating COVID-19.”
He toured the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory that created the COVID-19 vaccine now manufactured by Moderna and being rolled out in the U.S. and other countries. On the tour, Biden was shown the lab bench where researchers sequenced the virus and developed the precursor of the Moderna vaccine.
Biden criticized President Donald Trump, saying he inherited “no plan to vaccinate most of the country.”
“It is no secret that the vaccination program was in much worse shape than my team and I anticipated,” he said.
