Our national strategy is comprehensive and based on science, not politics. It’s based on truth, not denial, and it’s detailed, Biden said, speaking from the White House. He stated that the 198-page plan is posted on WhiteHouse.gov.
Biden’s plan begins with a nationwide immunization campaign to reach the president’s goal of 100 million vaccinations, enough to provide 50 million Americans with vaccines that require two doses in the first 100 days of his administration.
This is day one, Biden said.
He said the plan was developed with the help of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, and other consultants and experts. Fauci was at the White House with Biden Covid’s czar Jeff Zients.
Biden said the American public will hear much more from Dr. Fauci, not from the president, but from real experts and scientists.
Former President Donald Trump stepped aside and undermined his own medical experts as the pandemic swept the country.
We will make sure that they operate without political interference, that they make decisions based strictly on science and health, not political consequences, Biden said.
The day after being sworn in, Biden signed at least 10 executive orders, memoranda and directives to combat the pandemic, which by Thursday had killed more than 408,000 Americans and infected more than 24 million people in the United States.
Biden signed decrees that increased supplies of vaccines, tests, and personal protective equipment, and another that encouraged the development of therapeutic materials for Covid-19.
Biden stressed the need for Americans to wear face masks to stop the spread of the virus, saying masks are even more important than vaccines.
The president, who has long stressed the importance of wearing masks, signed an executive order on his first day in office requiring the wearing of masks in federal buildings and on federal land, and urged Americans to wear masks during his first 100 days in office.
As a result of the campaign proposals, Biden signed two executive orders establishing the National Pandemic Testing Council to increase U.S. capacity to test for coronaviruses and the Covid-19 Health Equity Task Force to ensure an equitable pandemic response and recovery.
Another order he signed expands the country’s capacity to collect, produce, share and analyze data on the virus.
It called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fully reimburse states for National Guard personnel and emergency supplies, such as. B. Close schools, offer.
Biden has asked the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services for guidance on how to safely reopen schools, day care centers and institutions of higher learning.
He signed an executive order directing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue clear guidance on Covid-19, to decide whether to establish interim emergency standards, and to instruct OSHA to enforce safety and health requirements.
Under an executive order he signed on Wednesday making masks mandatory on federal property, Biden also took steps to require the wearing of masks at airports and on certain modes of transportation, including many trains, planes, boats and intercity buses.
Biden is also issuing a presidential directive aimed at restoring American leadership, supporting international efforts to combat pandemics, increasing resilience to future threats, and strengthening the global health security agenda.
Jeff Zients, the new White House coordinator of Covid, told reporters Wednesday that Biden’s pandemic strategy would be fundamentally different from that of the Trump administration and would be guided by science, data and public health, not politics.
CNN reported on Thursday that Biden and his advisers inherited a non-existent plan for supplying the Trump administration’s coronavirus vaccine, and sources told CNN they would essentially have to build it from scratch.
For nearly a year, Americans could not expect the federal government to develop a strategy, let alone a comprehensive approach, to respond to COWID. And we have seen the tragic cost of that failure. If President Biden takes office today, that will change tomorrow, Zients said Wednesday.
After Wednesday’s swearing-in ceremony, Biden’s first act as president was to place a masked warrant on federal property. Biden also appointed a coronavirus coordinator to oversee White House efforts to distribute vaccines and medical supplies. He also signed an executive order ending the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization.
CNN’s Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
