President Joe Biden’s administration is upping vaccine distribution to states to 10 million doses per week and seeks to have 300 million Americans vaccinated by “the end of this summer,” the White House announced in a Tuesday statement to reporters.
The statement said the 10 million weekly doses are up 16 percent from the previous 8.6 million. The administration also vowed to notify state governments of how many doses are headed their way three weeks ahead of time. Biden has touted his plan to deliver 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office, enough to fully vaccinate 50 million Americans. (RELATED: Joe Biden Holds First Call With Vladimir Putin, Presses On Hacking Attacks, Navalny Arrest)
“I’ve said before this is a wartime effort… More than 400,000 Americans have already died… More than all the Americans who died in World War II. This is a wartime undertaking. It’s not hyperbole,” Biden said Tuesday night.
“Today, the President is announcing bold steps that will help meet the goal of administering 100 million shots in 100 days and ramp up vaccine supply as fast as possible.” pic.twitter.com/pZUjbu3AFf
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 26, 2021
“Our plan will take time,” cautions @POTUS. “Things are going to continue to get worse before it gets better.”
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 26, 2021
The White House says the 10 million weekly doses will remain the minimum shipped to states for “the next three weeks.” The administration is also “working to purchase” an additional 100 million doses each from Pfizer and Moderna. If successful, this would raise the total number of doses at the nation’s disposal to 600 million doses.
“With these additional doses, the U.S. will have enough vaccine to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of this summer,” the statement said.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki admitted earlier this week that there was some “confusion” over how many vaccine doses the U.S. has at its disposal. The Biden administration on Monday blamed the confusion on the outgoing Trump administration.
Christian Datoc contributed to this report