Thursday April 22, 2021
200 million doses in 90 days
USA vaccinates much faster than planned
When Joe Biden moves into the White House, he formulates an ambitious goal: 100 million corona vaccine doses are to be administered in the first hundred days of his term in office. It goes much faster then, and the president adds up. Now the second goal has also been achieved before the deadline has expired.
US President Joe Biden has kept a key promise in the corona pandemic: 200 million vaccinations administered within his first 100 days in office. With the vaccination numbers, which are to be published on Thursday, the threshold of 200 million injected vaccine doses will be exceeded, announced Biden. He was proud of his government team, but also of the people who made it possible. “This is an American achievement, a powerful example of unity and determination.”
The Democrat moved into the White House on January 20. At the end of April he has been in office for 100 days. Biden had given priority to the fight against the corona pandemic. When he took office, he set the goal of administering 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office. This was achieved after just 60 days. Biden then doubled the target to 200 million vaccinations, which is now also achieved ahead of schedule – after a good 90 days in office.
A “new phase” in the fight against the virus is now beginning, Biden said. As of Monday, all Americans aged 16 and over have been entitled to schedule a vaccination appointment. The President urged people not to hesitate but to get vaccinated. The government has done a lot to make this easy: 90 percent of Americans now live within five miles of a vaccination center. Around 40,000 pharmacies in the country are involved in the vaccination campaign. Many of them are located in drugstores. Biden appealed that anyone who went to buy “shampoo or toothpaste” could also be vaccinated at the same time.
According to the US health authority CDC, more than 26 percent of the total population in the US is already fully vaccinated. According to this, more than half of adults have received at least one injection, among older people aged 65 and over it is already more than 80 percent.
Vaccination shouldn’t be a financial risk
The focus is now on vaccinating larger sections of the working population, said a government official. Biden called on all employers in the country to leave their employees paid for a vaccination appointment. Companies should also continue to pay their employees if they feel bad about the side effects of a vaccination and have to stay at home for a short time. “No working American should lose a single dollar of his paycheck for doing his patriotic duty to be vaccinated,” said Biden.
For smaller companies with fewer than 500 employees, according to the White House, tax breaks are provided to compensate them for any lost work in connection with the vaccination of employees. In view of the vaccination advances in the country, the US president had promised the Americans that they would be able to celebrate in small groups again on the national holiday on July 4th. “We are still on the right track to achieve this goal,” he said on Wednesday. The fight against the virus is making good progress, but there is still a lot to be done. Biden called on people to remain vigilant, continue to wear masks and take other safety precautions. Otherwise, the virus could regain the upper hand.
.