President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to make the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines more efficient. Biden will be officially sworn in as president of the United States on January 20th. Here are some of the key factors of the Biden COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan that are part of his proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
Launching a National Education Program
Biden plans to start a national education campaign specifically to quell the fears of Americans who are still wary about taking the COVID-19 vaccine. The education campaign would be, “[A] massive public education campaign to rebuild that trust [in the safety of the vaccine], to help people understand what science tells us—that vaccines help reduce the risk of COVID infections.” The Biden plan would fund the hiring of 100,000 health care workers to help encourage citizens to get vaccinated as well as to work on contact-tracing.
Increasing Vaccine Production
According to the Biden-Harris transition team plan, the incoming administration plans to invest $25 billion in, “a vaccine manufacturing and distribution plan that will guarantee it gets to every American, cost-free.” Biden’s goal is to have 100 million vaccine doses administered during his first 100 days in office. He has said he plans to use the Defense Production Act to help increase supply of the COVID-19 vaccines available for administration. Biden would also utilize the Defense Production Act in increase production of vital PPE equipment like masks and face shields so they aren’t in short supply nationwide.
The same plan wants to ensure that information released about the vaccine is ethical and based on science. The Biden-Harris administration would, “Put scientists in charge of all decisions on safety and efficacy; publicly release clinical data for any vaccine the FDA approves; and authorize career staff to write a written report for public review and permit them to appear before Congress and speak publicly uncensored.”
Biden also wants to encourage states to open up eligibility beyond those who can currently get the vaccine. This expansion would include essential workers like teachers, grocery store employees and front-line workers and anyone 65 or older.
Biden’s COVID-19 relief plan would also include $1400 stimulus checks for Americans as well as increasing the minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour.
Create More Vaccination Sites
Biden’s vaccine rollout plan would also lead to the creation of more vaccination sites across the country. The President-elect wants to create 100 federally supported vaccination centers by the end of his first month in office. The President-elect plans to fully reimburse states that utilize these sites by mobilizing the National Guard to administer the vaccine at the newly created vaccination sites.
He would also deploy FEMA to help set up the proposed sites. Biden pledged to ensure the vaccine sites were done equitably, saying that, “We’ll make sure there are vaccination centers in communities hit hardest by the pandemic, in Black and Latino communities, and rural communities as well.”
The Biden plan would also utilize more local pharmacies to administer the COVID-19 vaccines to make the vaccine rollout more accessible across the country.
Check out the full list of the Biden-Harris COVID-19 proposed COVID-19 relief priority policies here.
Biden’s plan would also allocate $130 billion to K-12 schools to help them reopen safely. One of Biden’s goals was to have a majority of the nation’s K-8 schools reopen during his first 100 days in office.
The proposed Biden “American Rescue” COVID-19 relief plan will have to pass through Congress in order for it to be fully implemented.
