The US vaccination campaign is progressing.
President Joe Biden has reached his 100-day goal adjustment.
In the country, even easing steps can now be considered.
Washington - For a long time the USA was considered a pandemic problem child.
The corona virus seemed to be spreading uncontrollably over the third largest country on earth.
In the meantime, however, the daily infection numbers are falling again.
This is particularly due to a promise that the new US President Joe Biden not only kept, but exceeded.
Corona in the USA: Biden reaches 200 million vaccinations in 100 days
Biden announced at the beginning of the year that 100 million corona vaccinations would be carried out in his first 100 days of office.
Because the Democrat had achieved this goal early, there should be 200 million vaccinations in the same period.
At his - surprisingly late - first press conference on March 25th, Biden put the success of the vaccination campaign in the foreground.
“No other country” has succeeded so well in advancing vaccinations so strongly.
Biden praised the fact that especially the vulnerable groups could be immunized.
Even if the United States is on the right track, “there is still a lot of work to be done,” said the 78-year-old, who was vaccinated with the Biontech / Pfizer vaccine in December.
Commenting on his new 200 target, Biden said, “I think we can do it.” At the beginning, vaccinations in the US were slow.
But after the change of power in the White House *, the vaccination campaign picked up speed rapidly.
Biden made many adjustments.
He ordered hundreds of millions of vaccine doses from various manufacturers, set up the pharmacies in the country as vaccination stations and had the US disaster control agency set up mass vaccination centers - with success.
Corona in the USA: like "shampoo or toothpaste" - Biden appeals to vaccinate
Biden wrote on Twitter on Thursday that this threshold for vaccination numbers has now officially been exceeded. After 90 days in office, Biden stated, “This is an American achievement. It is a powerful example of unity and determination. ”And it shows what the country can achieve when people share a common goal. Biden had already announced this milestone in the American vaccination campaign during an appearance on Wednesday and said that a "new phase" in the fight against the virus was now beginning.
As of Monday, all Americans aged 16 and over have been entitled to schedule a vaccination appointment.
The President urged people not to hesitate, but to get vaccinated.
The government has done a lot to make this easy: 90 percent of Americans now live within five miles of a vaccination center.
Around 40,000 pharmacies in the country are involved in the vaccination campaign.
Many of them are located in drugstores.
Biden appealed that anyone who went to buy “shampoo or toothpaste” could also be vaccinated at the same time.
Corona in the USA: A quarter of the population vaccinated against Covid-19
According to the US health authority CDC, more than 26 percent of the total population in the US is already fully vaccinated. On average, a good three million people in the USA recently received a vaccination each day, on some days more than four million. According to this, more than half of adults have received at least one injection, among older people aged 65 and over it is already more than 80 percent. The focus is now on vaccinating larger sections of the working population, said a government official.
Biden made an early promise to have enough vaccine for all roughly 260 million adults in the United States by the end of May.
The government secured a total of 600 million vaccine doses from Moderna * and Biontech / Pfizer * - preparations with two syringes each.
In addition, there are 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson * - a vaccine with a disposable syringe.
The drug from Johnson & Johnson is currently not injected in the USA due to isolated medical complications *.
However, this should not affect the objective.
Corona in the USA: Biden holds out the prospect of easing steps
In view of the progress in vaccination in the country, the US President * had promised the Americans that they would be able to celebrate in small groups again on the national holiday on July 4th. "We are still on the right track to achieve this goal," he said on Wednesday. The fight against the virus is making good progress, but there is still a lot to be done. Biden called on people to remain vigilant, continue to wear masks, and follow other safety precautions. Otherwise, the virus * could regain the upper hand.
Nonetheless, the infection situation in the USA is largely stable. 40,000 to 80,000 new infections have been reported every day since March. At the height of the second wave of infections in winter, the numbers were always in three digits and even exceeded the 300,000 mark at the beginning of January. The United States has the highest number of deaths in the world, with 569,696 deaths (
Source: Johns-Hopkins University as of April 22, 8:30 p.m.
). It is also true that the pandemic exposed some of the US's weaknesses, such as the inadequacies of the health system, the lack of social security for many Americans, child poverty and the systematic disadvantage of blacks and Latinos. The United States can score points when it comes to vaccination.
(as / dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
