President Joe Biden stands on stage during a break in a televised town hall event at Pabst Theater in Milwaukee
Credit: AP
Joe Biden promised every American who wants a Covid-19 vaccine will be able to access one by the end of July as he pitched his coronavirus relief plan directly to voters.
The US president suggested the country may have turned the page on the pandemic by next Christmas and anticipated that mask wearing will no longer be essential in a year’s time.
"By the end of July, we’ll have over 600 million doses — enough to vaccinate every single American," he told an audience in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Tuesday night, his first trip as president.
Mr Biden stressed that the figure represented the number of vaccines the US will have available, rather than administered, by then.
He added that while his health experts had cautioned him against offering a firm timeline on the end of the pandemic, "by next Christmas, I think we’ll be in a very different circumstance, God willing, than we are today".
"I think a year from now … there will be significantly fewer people having to be socially distanced, having to wear masks,” he said.
President Biden affirmed that Covid-19 vaccines will be widely available to the general public by the end of July.
"By the end of July we'll have over 600 million doses, enough to vaccinate every single American." #BidenTownHall https://t.co/K3sxmUXFdG pic.twitter.com/xTkje54Aqx
— CNN (@CNN) February 17, 2021
During the live town hall event hosted by CNN, Mr Biden offered his clearest thoughts yet on school reopenings, saying he predicted that children below high school age would likely return to full-time in-person learning by the end of his first 100 days in office.
The trip and public pitch to voters has been viewed as a way for Mr Biden to regain momentum for his coronavirus relief bill after weeks of intense press coverage of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
Mr Biden refused to be drawn on his opinion of his predecessor’s acquittal in the US Senate, saying: “For four years, all that’s been in the news is Trump. The next four years, I want to make sure all that’s in the news is the American people. I’m tired of talking about Trump”. The comments drew widespread applause from the audience.
"It's done" — Asked about the impeachment trial, Biden reiterates that he's tired of talking about Trump pic.twitter.com/3ZCx6xGpkU
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 17, 2021
At another point, he referred to his predecessor as "the other guy".
But Mr Biden was less reticent on how he would deal with white supremacists, such as those who were involved in the attack on the Capitol, calling domestic terrorists the "greatest threat" in America.
The president said the US Justice Department is "focused heavily" on the issue.
“That is the greatest threat to terror in America, domestic terror,” he said. “I would make sure that we in fact focus on how to deal with the rise of white supremacy … It is a bane on our existence. These guys and women are, in fact, demented, they are dangerous people."
Mr Biden also made overtures to conservative members of the audience, stressing he would not back calls from the progressive wing of his party to defund the police. “We have to put more money in police work,” he said.
The 78-year-old also shared details of how he was settling into life in the White House after years of seeking higher office, revealing he felt "self-conscious" about being waited on by a valet.
"I don’t know about you all, but I was raised in a way that you didn’t look for anybody to wait on you," he said.
"And it’s where I find myself extremely self conscious. There are wonderful people that work in the White House. But someone standing there… hands me my suit coat."
He went on to compare living in the White House to "a gilded cage", but added that he feels "a sense of history about it".
Since taking office, Mr Biden said he has called up a former president to seek advice.
"By the way, all of them, with one exception, have picked up the phone and called me, as well," he added, in a clear allusion to Mr Trump.
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