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WILMINGTON, DE – DECEMBER 29: US President-elect Joe Biden delivers remarks on the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic at the Queen Theater on December 29, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden will assume the position of president number 46 in a reduced ceremony due to the pandemic in Washington DC on January 20, 2021. Mark Makela / Getty Images / AFP
WILMINGTON, United States – President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday pledged a tireless effort to combat Covid-19 the moment he took office, warning that Donald Trump’s vaccination campaign was lagging dangerously. short.
Speaking after an expert briefing, Biden promised that as president he will undertake the “greatest operational challenge we have ever faced as a nation” to vaccinate against the disease that has claimed more than 1.7 million lives worldwide.
“The Trump administration’s plan to distribute vaccines is lagging behind,” Biden said, promising, “I will move heaven and earth so that we are going in the right direction.”
The Trump administration had predicted that 20 million Americans would be vaccinated by the end of December.
With less than three days to go, some 2.1 million have received their first injection of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Biden, who will take office on January 20, confirmed that he would invoke the Korean War-era Defense Production Act to force private industry to increase production of vaccines for the government.
He also implored Americans to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and said he would impose a mandate on face coverings in areas where the federal government has jurisdiction, such as airplanes.
“We are planning a government-wide effort and are going to work to establish vaccination sites and dispatch mobile units to hard-to-reach communities,” Biden said,
“We are going to make sure vaccines are distributed fairly so that everyone can get one, regardless of their skin color and where they live.”
He expressed confidence in a return to normalcy in 2021, but not immediately.
“We may not see improvements until well into March as it will take time for our Covid response plan to begin to produce visible progress,” Biden said.
“The next few weeks and months will be very difficult, a very difficult period for our nation, perhaps the most difficult during this entire pandemic.”
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