Marking a year since COVID-19 lockdowns in the United States, President Joe Biden, in his first prime-time address on Friday, 12 March, acknowledged that COVID-19 had claimed more lives than World Wars I & II, Vietnam War and 9/11 combined. He then promised that all Americans will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations by 1 May.
“As of now, the total deaths in America is at 527,726. That’s more deaths than World War I, World War II, The Vietnam war and 9/11 combined. There were husbands, wives, sons, daughters, grandparents, friends, neighbours – young and old – they leave behind young ones unable to grieve and heal.”Joe Biden, US President
Biden announced the next phase of his administration’s “war-time effort to vaccinate the US population”, aiming to push the nation closer to normal by US Independence Day on 4 July.
The US has delivered over 81 million vaccinations to citizens so far. The Biden administration had promised a target of 100 million vaccinations by his 100th day in office.
“Tonight, I can say we’re not only going to meet that goal, but we are going to beat that goal. We are actually on track to meet the goal of 100 million in arms on my 60th day in office.”Joe Biden, US President
But he urged Americans to not “let up” despite the good news because the “fight is far from over”. In the US, so far, COVID has claimed the lives of 527,7260 people and infected over 29 million.
Snapshot: Next Stage of America’s Plan to Fight COVID
According to a statement released by the White House on Friday, the Biden administration plans to take the following steps to combat COVID-19:
1. Through Biden’s ‘American Rescue Plan’, resources will be used to increase the number of places Americans can get inoculated to ensure that the worst-hit and hardest to reach populations have access to the vaccines.
2. Over the next six weeks, the Biden administration will deliver vaccines to an additional 700 community health centres, and use mobile vans to reach underserved communities.
3. Biden has promised to make COVID vaccines available at over 20,000 pharmacies at convenient locations in the US and will encourage the use of mobile operations as well to reach out to the maximum number of people.
4. The US government aims to double the number of federal mass vaccination centres and increase the investment and support for state and local community vaccination centres.
5. The Biden administration has announced an additional deployment of 4,000 active-duty troops to support vaccination efforts, bringing the team size to 6,000. There will be an addition of frontline healthcare workers as well. A website will be set up to allow eligible citizen volunteers to sign up and get involved in the efforts to contain COVID.
6. Certain tools are being introduced to increase accessibility to the vaccine, such as ‘Find a vaccination website’, a 1-800 toll free number for those without internet access, and technical support for state and federal websites about available COVID vaccines.
7. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will continue to issue guidance on what people can do after being fully vaccinated. This will include guidelines on travel, social and religious gatherings, and work.
8. The Biden administration has a budget of $50 billion under the American Rescue Plan to expand testing in congregate settings like shelters and prisons. The Plan has a budget of $1.75 billion to add to the $200 million budget announced last month to grow genomic sequencing samples from 7,000 to 25,000 that will expand the US’s ability to “sequence samples to identify, track, and mitigate emerging variants”.
Steps Taken for Schools
President Biden announced his strategy to reopen schools using the American Rescue Plan. This will budget for $130 billion to safely reopen schools to support children’s academic, social and emotional needs after a challenging year and accommodate COVID guidelines.
There will be a budget of $650 million by Health and Human Services and the American Rescue Plan to increase screening testing in schools. A handbook will be provided and a summit will be organised to address the impact of COVID on “students, educators, and staff, especially for historically underserved students and communities that have been hit hardest by the pandemic”.
There will be an emphasis on helping educators get vaccinated as well under the federal pharmacy programme.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)