Biden Moving Deadline To Have All Americans Eligible For Vaccine To April 19

Joe Biden will announce on Tuesday that he is moving up his target for all American adults to become eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine by almost two weeks to April 19, CNN reported citing a White House official said. Biden is also expected to announce that the United States has administered 150 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, putting the admin on track to meet or exceed the goal of administering 200 million doses in Biden’s first 100 days in office.

CNN first reported Biden’s planned announcements on Tuesday. The president is scheduled to visit a vaccination site at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va., Tuesday afternoon before returning to the White House to give remarks on the state of vaccinations.

Biden said during his first primetime address last month that he would urge states to make all adults eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine by May 1. Biden also announced last week that 90% of adults will be eligible to get a coronavirus vaccine by April 19, as well as have a vaccination site within five miles of where they live. Biden said the number of pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy vaccination program was increasing from the current 17,000 locations to 40,000.

The new target comes as the U.S. is steadily ramping up the amount of daily vaccinations. The Biden administration announced over the weekend that the US hit 4 million doses in a 24-hour period for the first time. The US administered 22mn vaccine doses over the past week, increasing the total to 165 million, with nearly half the US population now vaccinated.