Story at a glance
- The president said the U.S. will purchase an additional 100 million vaccine doses from Pfizer and 100 million more from Moderna.
- The increase should be enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans, putting the nation’s total vaccine order to 600 million doses.
- “Our plan will take time,” Biden said. “Despite our best intentions, we’re going to face setbacks.”
President Biden on Tuesday said that there will be enough vaccines for 300 million people by the end of summer as his administration is ramping up efforts to get vaccines in the arms of as many Americans as possible to rein in the deadly coronavirus.
“This will be one of the most difficult operational challenges we’ve ever undertaken as a nation. I’ve said that before, but I must say it again because we’re going to do — we’re going to do everything we can to get it done. But a lot of things can go wrong along the way,” Biden said during a news conference Tuesday.
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“Our plan will take time,” Biden said. “Despite our best intentions, we’re going to face setbacks.”
The president said the U.S. will purchase an additional 100 million vaccine doses from Pfizer and 100 million more from Moderna — the two-dose vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. The increase should be enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans, putting the nation’s total vaccine order to 600 million doses.
Biden also pledged to increase the overall weekly vaccination distribution to states, tribes and territories, upping the current 8.6 million doses to a minimum of 10 million doses beginning next week.
Earlier this week, the president said he expects the U.S. will soon be able to vaccinate 1.5 million people per day, an increase from the administration’s previous goal of 1 million per day. He also said on Monday that he believes any American who wants a vaccine should be able to obtain one some time in the spring.
The goal to vaccinate most Americans by fall comes as the vaccination effort in the U.S. has lagged.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23.5 million doses have been administered in the U.S. with 44.3 million doses distributed as of Wednesday.
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