Joe Biden criticises Donald Trump for slow start to Covid-19 vaccination programme

The US President nationalised vaccine production using emergency legislation passed during the Cold War

Nurse Emily Enos loads the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine into a syringe outside the Los Angeles Mission, in Skid Row, Los Angeles, on February 10, 2021 as part of an immunisation drive for homeless seniors AFPShow less

US President Joe Biden criticised Donald Trump on Friday for failing to secure sufficient Covid-19 shots.

As he toured a Pfizer factory in Michigan, Mr Biden said his predecessor “failed to order enough vaccines. Failed to mobilise the effort to administer the shots. Failed to set up vaccine centres.”

Mr Biden sought to reassure the public that the shots are safe and described efforts by his administration to increase supplies and vaccination sites. He also tried to rally support for the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus plan he proposed in response to the pandemic.

He said variables will affect how long the virus will plague the US but that he believes the country will be approaching normality by the end of the year.

“And, God willing, this Christmas will be different than last. But I can’t make that commitment to you,” he said.

The plant, in Portage, on the outskirts of Kalamazoo in south-west Michigan, is Pfizer’s largest factory. There, the company’s Covid-19 vaccine is made and filled into vials before being shipped for distribution.

Mr Biden’s visit was only his second trip away from the East Coast since taking office last month.

On Tuesday, he appeared at a CNN question-and-answer session with the public in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Last week, he toured the National Institutes of Health headquarters in Maryland to learn about federal research on the virus.

Boxes containing the Moderna vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the McKesson distribution centre in Olive Branch, Mississippi, US. Efforts to vaccinate Americans against Covid-19 have been stymied by a series of winter storms. AP

Since taking office, Mr Biden has ordered an additional 100 million doses apiece of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, bringing the total to 600 million, enough for 300 million people. Both vaccines are administered in two doses.

The president said onTuesday that Pfizer agreed to speed up shipments after Mr Biden invoked the Defence Production Act, which enables the government to nationalise manufacturing in emergencies.

Modest changes

Despite the president’s criticism of Mr Trump, Mr Biden’s administration has made only modest changes to its predecessor’s vaccine plan. It is invoking agreements reached under Donald Trump to expand the US supply.

The Trump administration last year bought 200 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine and obtained options for another 400 million. Mr Trump’s team also ordered 200 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine, with options for 300 million more.

On Friday, Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla spoke of Mr Biden as a “great ally” who helped obtain materials to expand capacity. Mr Bourla said his company would use more of its manufacturing capacity and work with new suppliers to step up production of the vaccine.

Kathi Carlsten, a Los Angeles Unified School District nurse, applies a dose of the Moderna vaccine to a LAUSD employee as LAUSD's first vaccination site opened at the Roybal Learning Center, in Los Angeles. Superintendent Austin Beutner was there in the morning to meet with the vaccination team and the first district employees to receive their vaccines at this site. AP Photo

Medical transporter Adrian Parrilla transports a patient into a COVID-19 unit at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, Calif. AP Photo

A health worker receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 at the Versalles Clinic, in Cali, Colombia, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. AFP

A commuter wears a faces shield and mask across the street from a train station amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in Santa Monica, California. AP Photo

Traffic cones line around the empty parking lot of Dodger Stadium, a mass COVID-19 vaccination in Los Angeles. California has closed some vaccination centers and delayed appointments following winter storms elsewhere in the country that hampered the shipment of doses. AP Photo

Grace John, who works at a school in San Lorenzo, gets a COVID-19 shot at a mobile vaccination clinic run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state in Hayward, California. AP Photo

U.S. President Joe Biden wears a protective mask while speaking as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, left, listens during a meeting with labor leaders on coronavirus relief in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. Biden said last night in a CNN town hall event that Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. agreed to sell more doses of their coronavirus vaccine to the U.S. faster than planned after he invoked federal law that could force their production. Bloomberg

Boxes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, U.S. Reuters

After getting the Moderna vaccine, employees wait to be sure they don't have any reactions to the drug before leaving, as Los Angeles Unified School District's first vaccination site opened at the Roybal Learning Center, in Los Angeles. AP Photo

The Walmart Mobile app is seen on a mobile phone at a Walmart pharmacy where the Moderna coronavirus disease vaccine is available as Walmart and other major U.S. pharmacies take part in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, to increase vaccinations in the U.S. in West Haven, Connecticut, U.S. Reuters

Mr Biden has regularly touted his administration’s progress accelerating vaccinations, and encouraged any American with the opportunity to do so to have the shots.

“I can’t tell you a date when this crisis will end but I can tell you we’re doing everything possible to have that day come sooner rather than later,” he said.

Covax commitment

On Thursday, one day before the G7 Summit of seven powerful nations, White House officials said the US would immediately commit $2 billion to the international effort known as Covax, which aims to help lower-income countries with vaccines. Mr Biden will pledge an additional $2 billion through 2021 and 2022 on condition that other countries fulfil their commitments.

A third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, is administered in a single shot.

The administration said on Wednesday that its use would probably be authorised by the Food & Drug Administration within a few days of a meeting on February 26 to consider the company’s application and clinical data.

About 1.58 million shots per day were given in the US over the past week, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, up from an average of roughly 900,000 per day in the week before Mr Biden took office.

Supply is increasing as manufacturers increase production.

Efforts led in part by the Biden administration to increase the number of people able to administer vaccines are also under way.