Biden Plans to Urge All Americans to Wear Masks for 100 Days After Inauguration | US News

Joe Biden intends to call on all Americans to wear masks for 100 days after he becomes president in an attempt to reduce infection rates as the coronavirus crisis continues rampant in the US. .

President-elect and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris have also pledged to receive coronavirus vaccines as soon as possible when, as expected, the first vaccines are approved by US regulators.

Sitting for their first joint interview since the November election, with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Biden said he would be willing to join the three previous US presidents who promised Thursday that they would be injected with the Covid-19 vaccine in public to boost faith. in vaccines among the American public.

Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama said they would be willing to be vaccinated on television once a vaccine is approved in the United States.

“I’d love to do that,” Biden said when asked if he would be prepared to receive the coronavirus vaccine before he takes office as the 46th president in January.

He added: “I think my three predecessors have set the standard for what to do.”

Biden said he would adhere to what Obama said Thursday: that the former president would be vaccinated if Anthony Fauci, the top public health official for the White House coronavirus task force, claimed that vaccines awaiting regulatory approval from United States for emergency use are safe.

“When Dr. Fauci says we have a vaccine and it’s safe, that’s the moment when I’ll be in front of the public … Part of what happened is that people have lost faith in the vaccine’s ability to work. … It matters what a president and a vice president.

“That’s my measure,” Biden said.

Harris has previously said in an interview that she’s eager to line up for a shot when Fauci says it’s safe to do so.

Earlier Thursday, former President Jimmy Carter, who is 96, issued a statement through his charitable foundation the Carter Center, saying that he and his wife Rosalynn “fully support the Covid-19 vaccine efforts and encourage all who are eligible get vaccinated as soon as it is available in their communities. “

Donald Trump has not spoken publicly about whether he will receive the vaccine. On Thursday he was silent on the record of deaths and hospitalizations recorded in the US in the previous 24 hours, as the death toll in the United States surpassed 275,000 and registered cases crossed the threshold of 14 meters, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Biden also answered “yes and yes” when asked if he had spoken with Fauci since defeating Trump in the November presidential election and if he would keep Fauci as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a position he has held since 1984. ., when Ronald Reagan was president.

Biden said he spoke with Fauci on Thursday afternoon and that his “Covid team” of health advisers had also spoken with him.

He said he also asked Fauci to be his main medical adviser and to be part of the Covid team advising him on the pandemic.

In recent months, Trump has tried to sideline Fauci as he took the advice of less qualified figures like Scott Atlas, who resigned from his post as White House adviser on the pandemic earlier this week. He pushed for the president’s public ambivalence about protections such as wearing masks and rules on social distancing.

By contrast, Biden said he had spoken to Fauci on Thursday about face masks. “It is important that the president and vice president establish the pattern using masks, but beyond that, where the federal government has authority, I am going to issue a permanent order that in federal buildings you must be masked and in interstate transportation you must being masked, on airplanes and buses, etc. “, said.

The president-elect later added that it was his “inclination” that on the first day of his presidency “I am going to ask the public for 100 days to mask, only 100 days, not forever… and I think we are going to see a significant reduction that occurs. , with vaccines and masking, to reduce the numbers considerably. “

Biden said he had spoken with teacher unions, as well as public health experts, about best practices for keeping schools open. This includes vaccinations, frequent testing, and disinfection in schools. He added that there is a clear path to keeping children in school, but it will not be cheap.

“It is going to cost literally billions of dollars to do this,” Biden said.

The couple also addressed other aspects of their agenda, including fighting the climate crisis. Responding to a question about whether his ambitious goals will be achievable, given congressional obstructions, Harris said: “Our agenda is quite progressive. And some might call it ambitious. But we, the American people, and frankly the world, cannot afford less. The clock ticks fast on this issue. “

CNN’s Tapper also asked Biden if he thought it would be important to the nation for Trump, as outgoing president, to attend his successor’s inauguration ceremony, as presidents always do, but many predict Trump will not.

Biden said it had little to do with his own feelings, but that he thought it was important in relation to the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next and also how the United States is perceived around the world.

“It’s totally his decision,” Biden said. “It has no personal consequence for me, but I think it is for the country.” Furthermore, he regretted Trump’s refusal to budge, saying, “This kind of thing happens in tin-horn dictatorships.”

The president-elect was largely civilized in speaking of his predecessor Trump’s “chaos”, with the exception of several scathing remarks. He said the Biden-Harris administration will not use its power to forgive family members and other associates, as Trump is reportedly exploring.

“They are not going to see that kind of pardons approach in our administration, nor are they going to see a tweeting policy approach in our administration,” he said.

Biden said he personally has no plans to prosecute Trump for crimes committed in office and that the justice department officials he designates will work independently. He added that while Trump and his allies appear to be publicly downplaying or openly denying Biden’s victory, some senators have privately called the president-elect to congratulate him.

Harris said the United States will be lucky to see Biden take over as president, especially after four years under Trump, and said “there could not be a more extreme exercise of stark contrast between the current occupant of the White House and the next occupant. of the White House. House”.

“The American people deserve in their president to have someone who is truly patriotic and who loves our country,” Harris said. “Who puts the people of the country first, not themselves.”