Dr Anthony Fauci has been made central to organising America's response to the virus
Credit: AFP
“This is a war-time undertaking”, Mr Biden said, noting the more than 400,000 US deaths from Covid-19 exceeds the number of Americans killed in the Second World War.
It was one of a number of stark warnings to America about the state of the challenge ahead — a contrast to Mr Trump’s often repeated comment that the virus would one day “disappear”.
“It’s going to get worse before it gets better”, Mr Biden warned at one point, saying that it would be “months” before a majority of Americans were vaccinated.
“History’s going to measure whether we’re up to the task,” he said at another, adding: “The health of the nation is literally at stake. It’s not hyperbole.”
Mr Biden called the Trump administration’s efforts to roll out the vaccines approved in recent months a “dismal failure”. It was one of many signposted breaks from his successor on the topic.
Mr Biden said his coronavirus strategy would be based on “truth not denial” and repeatedly stressed “science” not politics would dictate decisions, a clear swipe at Mr Trump.
He also said his administration would “always be honest and transparent with you about the good news and the bad”, adding: “We will level with you when we make a mistake. We’ll straight up say what happened.”
There was also a recommitment of the target, first specified during the weeks after his November election win, to get 100 million vaccine doses into arms in his first 100 days as president.
Earlier Mr Biden’s top coronavirus advisers publicly pointed the finger of blame at his successor for what was called a substandard plan for rolling out the Covid-19 vaccine.
The first families paid their respects to the victims of the virus in a ceremony ahead of the inauguration
Credit: Bloomberg
Jeff Zients, Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator, said: “What we’re inheriting is so much worse than we could have imagined.”
Atul Gawande, a member of Mr Biden’s coronavirus advisory board, claimed that Mr Trump’s team had only shared publicly available information with them before they took over.
He said they had discovered there was “no coordinated national effort” on rolling out the vaccines, adding: It’s been all breakthrough and no follow through”
A CNN report had similarly scathing comments. “There is nothing for us to rework. We are going to have to build everything from scratch,” one source familiar with the set-up.
Another was quoted recalling the moment they realised they would essentially start from “square one” with a roll-out plan: “Wow, just further affirmation of complete incompetence.”
He called on all Americans to wear masks for the next 99 days
Credit: AP
Some 16.5 million vaccine doses had been administered by January 20, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, short of the 20 million goal by the end of 2020.
Meanwhile Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease official publicly maligned by Donald Trump, was placed front and centre of the US government response once again.
Dr Fauci delivered a speech to the World Health Organisation yesterday after Mr Biden used his executive powers to return the US to the body.
He said Mr Biden’s administration would join WHO-led efforts to equitably distribute vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics across the globe.
This includes the ACT Accelerator — an umbrella scheme to develop and distribute medical tools — and the Covax facility, which delivers vaccines to low and middle income countries.
More than 170 countries including the UK and China have already joined, but Mr Trump, who has accused the WHO of being “very China-centris”, did not sign up America.
In a break with Trump’s rhetoric, Dr Fauci said: “I join my fellow representatives in thanking the World Health Organisation for its role in leading the global public health response to this pandemic, under trying circumstances.”
Свежие комментарии