Earlier this week, President Joe Biden promised sufficient COVID vaccines for 300 million Americans. The ambitious proposal will also increase distribution to states by millions of doses next week, according to CNN.
“We now have a national strategy to beat COVID-19. It’s comprehensive. It’s based on science, not politics. It’s based on truth, not denial, and it is detailed,” he said.
The US will purchase 100 million more vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and 100 million from Moderna, which will take the current supply from 400 million to 600 million. States, tribes, and territories will now also receive 10 million doses weekly, compared to 8.6 million, as well as a three-week vaccine look-ahead report to help states plan distribution.
Biden has recently pledged to vaccinate 1.5 million people a day, an increase from the previously promised 1 million people. The increase is intended to create a “herd” immunity by this summer in order to prevent another fall and winter of lockdowns and social distancing.
His goal remains 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office, though some doubt still looms over the possibility of such a goal.
By Tuesday afternoon, the CDC states about 3.3 million Americans have received a vaccine.
“To a nation waiting for action, let me be clearest on this point: Help is on the way,” Biden said in a statement on Tuesday.
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health told CNN that if “we are able to get 300 million people vaccinated by the summer, life changes dramatically and we get out of this situation we are living in where the pandemic dominates our lives.”
Yet, sufficient vaccines are not the President’s only hurdle to 100 million shots in 100 days. A recent Axios-Ipsos poll showed that nearly half (49%) of Americans asked would not receive a vaccination as soon as possible, though that number is steadily decreasing.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Manjurul
Mikaela Mathews is a freelance writer and editor based in Dallas, TX. She was the editor of a local magazine and a contributing writer for the Galveston Daily News and Spirit Magazine.
