Democrat Joe Biden said Friday that if elected president, he would order that coronavirus vaccines be free for all Americans, as part of a national strategy to “get ahead of this virus.”
“Once we have a safe and effective vaccine, it has to be free for everyone, insured or not,” Biden said in a speech outlining his pandemic response plan just 11 days before the US presidential elections. United.
President Donald Trump, who follows Biden in polls, has also stressed that a vaccine, which he says will be ready in the next few weeks, should be free.
But the Biden-led Democrats have criticized Trump for failing to design and implement a nationwide response to a pandemic that has now killed more than 223,000 Americans.
“Covid-19 dwarfs everything we have faced in recent history, and shows no sign of slowing down. The virus is on the rise in almost every state, ”Biden said in a speech in Wilmington, Delaware.
“We have been in this crisis for more than eight months and the president still does not have a plan,” said the 77-year-old former vice president.
“He has given up. He abandoned you. He gave up his family. He resigned from America. “
Biden said that if elected he would “immediately” launch a national strategy “to finally get ahead of this virus and get our lives back.”
That would include consulting the governors of all 50 states during the presidential transition.
If he were to take office, Biden would urge Congress to pass a major bill outlining everything needed to fight the virus, implement a national mask mandate on federal buildings and interstate transportation, and implement a national testing plan equivalent to a sevenfold increase over today’s tests. level.
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