President Biden Moves the Date for All Adults to Schedule a COVID 19 Vaccine to April 19, 2021

 With the ending of the  Easter Weekend, President Biden started his update to the American People on the Coronavirus and COVID 19 vaccine efforts by saluting the efforts of various faith groups to steer the members of their congregations to receive the vaccination to combat the pandemic.

During his presentation, the President delivered good news regarding vaccination administration and delivery.

However, with Coronavirus cases rising and deaths starting to climb in some areas of the country, Mr. Biden reminded the American People: "now is not the time to let down; now is not the time to celebrate."

Noting that there have been 150 million COVID 19 vaccinations administered in the first 75 days of the Biden/Harris Administration, the President said that "we are on our way to meeting our (revised) goal of 200 million shots in my first hundred days in office" by averaging three million injections a day.

Mr. Biden then gave a good news/bad news update to the status of the Coronavirus in the United States.

According to excerpts from Biden's remarks, some of the good news is:

• "We're on track to beat our goal of 200 million shots in the first hundred days."
• "More than 75 percent of the people over the age of 65 have gotten shots...That's a dramatic turnaround and critical because seniors account for 80 percent of all COVID deaths..."
  
• "We've vaccinated more people than any place on Earth."
• "I'm pleased to report that according to CDC estimates, over 80 percent of teachers, school staff, and child care workers received at least one shot by the end of March..."
• "Dr. Fauci recently cited two studies from the New England Journal of Medicine that found that fully vaccinated care workers, health care workers on the front lines had extremely low infection rates less than two-tenths of one percent compared to unvaccinated health care workers..." 

Among the bad news items the President delivered was:

• The presence and sped of new COVID 19 variants that "are moving quickly."
• Coronavirus cases are rising.
• Hospitalization rates have stopped declining.
• COVID 19 related fatalities are "going up in some places."

Biden explained that the reason the Coronavirus still poses a threat is in part because it is going to take time to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans (the country is at the halfway mark yet,) citing the need to receive two shots in most cases and the time it takes to become fully effective.

The more direct reason for the rise in COVID 19 cases, according to the President is:

"...Too many people who've seen the end in sight think we're at the finish line already. But let me be deadly earnest with you, we aren't at the finish line. We still have a lot of work to do. We're still in a life-or-death race against this virus. Until we get everyone vaccinated, we need everyone to wash their hands, socially distance, and mask up in a recommended mask from the CDC..."

Mr. Biden then framed the prospects of what kind of Fourth of July Americans can have by:

"The real question is how much death, disease, and misery are we going to see between now and then."

Citing the up to date figure of 554,064 Coronavirus related deaths, he said:

"What we do now is going to determine how many people we'll save or lose in the month of April and May and June before we get to July 4..."

The President, after praising the hard work of Governors of both parties and his team, then announced: "that we're moving that date (the one where all adults could schedule their vaccination appointments) from May 1 to April 19 nationwide..."

He also appealed to the remaining quarter population of seniors that have not received the Coronavirus Vaccination to do so "now."  Biden reminded seniors that he is offering community aid to drive them to vaccination sites, saying "this is America. We take care of one another."  He implored the under 65-year-old community to call anyone they know in the senior one that has not received a vaccination to contact them and help them receive one now.

Finally, Mr. Biden said that his Administration "was ramping up transportation to vaccination centers" to help seniors, those on disability, those residing in isolated areas, and communities of color to get their shots.

During a brief question and answer session, the President:

• Said he would report later on talks with Iran on both countries rejoining the nuclear energy treaty.
• Supported business and sports organization decisions to boycott or remain in Georgia. He urged all state governments like Texas and Georgia to "smarten up" and "stop it" with regards to their voting suppression proposals.
• Praised Mitch McConnell for helping to convince Republican men to take the Coronavirus vaccine.
• Said he has not spoken directly with the Chair of the Federal Reserve Board because they are independent.
• Said he has not spoken with the Chinese President on the origins of the Coronavirus.