Biden Pledges Every American Can Get Vaccinated By End Of July

President Joe Biden sat down for his first town hall on Tuesday night and pledged to make 600 million total doses of COVID-19 vaccines available by the end of July – enough for every American to get vaccinated. Biden also urged that educators should be moved up higher on the priority list for shots.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Biden when regular Americans can expect to receive the vaccine. Biden replied, “By the end of July we will have 600 million doses, enough to vaccinate every single American.”

Cooper then pressed him, “Do you mean they will be available, or that people will have been able to actually get them?” Biden, vowing earlier in the town hall to not “over promise,” then clarified that the doses would be “available” by the end of July.

Biden also offered more specific plans about eventual school re-openings. The keys to in-person education are smaller class sizes, strict mask policies, social distancing and improved ventilation. The process for re-opening early-childhood education, also, will not be implemented in the same way as in high schools.

Johns Hopkins University now places the United States COVID-19 death toll at a harrowing 485,000 with a half-million deaths all but guaranteed. “We wasted so much time,” said Biden about the Trump administration.

Biden further noted that America has a long way to go in returning to “normal” life. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan proposed by Biden will be another major factor in helping Americans struck the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden said he expects the plan to be approved by Congress next week after initial protest from Republicans.