President Biden’s goal of a “war effort” to vaccinate 100 million people against COVID-19 in 100 days is based on a daily average that has been repeatedly surpassed under former President Donald Trump.
Biden’s first full day in office on Thursday saw 1.3 million Americans inoculated with the deadly coronavirus, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.
But the same figures show that 1.3 million fires were managed on January 11 and that 1.1 million were given on both 14 and 16 January.
Vaccinations also reached a record 1.6 million on Wednesday, when Biden took the oath of office, according to the data.
Since his inauguration on Wednesday, the new commander-in-chief and his biggest spokesman have been repeatedly pressured by reporters if he sets his immunization target too low.
During a news conference at the White House on Friday, Secretary of State Jen Psaki was reminded that before Trump left office, the average number of vaccinations in the last week was 912,497 – just shy about Biden’s goal.
“Given the urgent need for vaccinations, why not aim higher?” asked a reporter.
Psaki referred to the vaccination plan that Biden announced earlier last month, when he vowed to be “the most effective” in American history.
“We set that goal before any American got a single shot,” Psaki said.
“So the new Biden administration felt it was important to set what was described as a bold and ambitious goal at the time, and many doubted that we could get right there.”
The answer resonated largely with the words of her boss, who on Thursday night growled at a White House reporter who wondered if his plan was ambitious enough.
“Basically, the US is there at the moment,” the reporter said as Biden concluded a briefing in which he warned that it would take months for most Americans to be inoculated.
“When I announced it, you all said it wasn’t possible,” Biden snapped. “Come on, give me a break, man! It’s a good start. ”
During his meeting on Friday, Psaki also said that the new administration is still trying to find its “big feet” and blamed the operational challenges on the outgoing Trump administration.
“We want to set our own markers and markers for the American public so that they know we are meeting our goal. If we overcome this, it is wonderful “, she said about the 100-day target.
To date, 37.9 million recently approved miracle fires have been distributed nationwide, but only 17.5 million have been administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Thursday, Biden launched a comprehensive plan he described as a “large-scale effort during the war” to defeat the pandemic by invoking the Defense Production Act to increase vaccine production and the establishment of US-funded vaccination sites. nationwide.
Many states are still screaming for miracle drug doses. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have warned that their closets will be empty by Friday.