|
 Biden's prediction of a grim winter appeared aimed at lowering
public expectations that the pandemic would be over soon after he
takes office on Jan. 20, while putting Congress on notice that he
wants to significantly increase spending to expedite vaccine
distribution, expand COVID testing and help reopen shuttered
schools.
Biden, a Democrat, said about 2 million people have received the
initial dose of one of two newly approved two-dose vaccines, well
short of the 20 million that outgoing Republican President Donald
Trump had promised by year's end.
"The effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not
progressing as it should," Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware. At
the current rate, "it's going to take years, not months, to
vaccinate the American people."
Shortly after Biden's remarks, Colorado Governor Jared Polis said
his state had discovered the nation's first known case of the highly
infectious coronavirus variant B.1.1.7, which was originally
documented in the United Kingdom. Scientists there believe the
variant is more contagious than other previously identified strains
of the SAR-CoV-2 variant but no more severe in the symptoms it
causes.
It has also been detected in several European countries, as well as
in Canada, Australia, India, South Korea and Japan, among others.
Polis said in a statement the infected patient was a man in his 20s
with no recent travel history who is currently in isolation in
Elbert County, a semi-rural area on the outskirts of the greater
Denver metropolitan area.
"Public health officials are doing a thorough investigation" and the
individual has "no close contacts identified so far," Polis said,
adding that the state had notified the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC).
Colorado State Laboratory scientists confirmed the UK variant after
noticing that a diagnostic test sample was missing a key gene
signal, prompting them to sequence the patient's viral genome. This
revealed eight mutations specific to the spike protein gene
associated with the British variant, Polis said in his statement.
The Denver-based online news outlet Coloradopolitics.com, citing
Elbert County's public health director, later reported that a second
suspected case of the variant was under examination there.
RACING THE VIRUS
Although experts believe the newly approved COVID vaccines will be
effective against the British variant, the emergence of a more
highly transmissible strain of the virus makes a swift rollout of
immunizations all the more critical.
Biden's goal of ensuring that 100 million vaccinations are
administered by the end of his 100th day in office would mean
"ramping up five to six times the current pace to 1 million shots a
day," Biden said, noting that it would require Congress to approve
additional funding.
Even at such an ambitious rate, it would still take months for the
majority of Americans to be vaccinated, he said, adding that the
situation may not improve until "well into March."
Biden also said he plans to invoke the Defense Production Act, which
grants the president emergency powers to order expanded industrial
output of key materials or products on grounds of national security,
to accelerate production of vaccine supplies.
[to top of second column] |
 Trump has invoked the law
during the pandemic.
To reopen schools safely, Biden said Congress
would need to provide funding for purposes such
as additional transportation, so students can
maintain social distancing, and improved
ventilation in school buildings.
Congress also needs to fund more diagnostic
testing and help pay for protective equipment
for healthcare workers, Biden added.
Trump defended his administration's record after Biden concluded his
remarks.
"It is up to the States to distribute the vaccines once brought to
the designated areas by the Federal Government. We have not only
developed the vaccines, including putting up money to move the
process along quickly, but gotten them to the states," he said on
Twitter.
Trump, who contracted COVID-19 in October, has often played down the
severity of the pandemic and overseen a response many health experts
say was disorganized and cavalier and sometimes ignored the science
behind disease transmission.
Earlier in the day, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received a
COVID-19 vaccination on live television in a bid to boost public
confidence in immunizations. Biden, 78, did so last week.
Harris, the first Black person and first Asian-American elected vice
president, received the Moderna Inc vaccine at a medical center in
predominantly Black southeast Washington.
The Biden team has stressed the importance of inoculation in
non-white communities especially hard hit by the coronavirus and
more highly skeptical about vaccine safety.
To date, the respiratory virus has infected more than 19 million
people and killed over 334,000 in the United States.
One of the latest casualties of the pandemic was U.S.
Representative-elect Luke Letlow, a Louisiana Republican, who died
on Tuesday of COVID-19, his campaign said. Letlow, 41, announced on
Dec. 18 that he had tested positive for virus.
Dr. Atul Gawande, a member of Biden's COVID-19 advisory board, told
CBS News the transition team still did not have all the information
it needed to understand vaccine distribution bottlenecks.
(This story refiles to add dropped word in paragraph 2 and correct
typos in paragraph 3)
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Wilmington, Delaware, and Keith
Coffman in Denver. Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Lisa
Lambert, Steve Gorman and David Brunnstrom; Writing by David
Brunnstrom and Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller, Stephen
Coates and Gerry Doyle)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
