President Biden to speed up eligibility for COVID-19 vaccine as US hits milestone
President Joe Biden will announce on Tuesday that the US delivered 150 million vaccines since he took office and move up by nearly two weeks a deadline to make doses widely available, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Biden will direct states to widen distribution of vaccines to all eligible American adults by April 19, two weeks earlier than the May 1 deadline he announced before.
On Tuesday, the president is scheduled to tour a vaccination site at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, before making the announcement at the White House.
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The federal government has significantly ramped up the pace of vaccination as it works to end the COVID-19 pandemic. States with limited vaccine supply initially limited early doses to higher-risk groups, such as the elderly.
Biden initially set a goal of delivering 100 million shots into people’s arms within his first 100 days in office, which is the end of April.
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The goal has since been doubled to 200 million shots.
COVID-19 has killed 500,000 Americans, but more than 167 million doses have been administered in the country. Four in ten Americans have had at least one vaccine dose, a rate far ahead of most countries.
The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines used in the country require two doses. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine also used in the country requires one dose. Vaccine distribution began under Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.
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