the coronavirus crisis
Biden to move up deadline for making all adults eligible for COVID-19 vaccination
President Biden will reportedly announce that all U.S. adults are now set to be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination in less than two weeks.
Biden on Tuesday will announce he's moving up the deadline for states to open up COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to all adults to April 19, earlier than his previous deadline of May 1, CNN reports.
The president announced in an address last month he was directing states to open vaccine eligibility to all adults no later than May 1. Since that time, all 50 states have either made COVID-19 vaccines available to all adults or announced when they will. According to Axios, Hawaii and Oregon are the only states that will face pressure to alter their timetable after Biden's announcement; they were previously set to expand eligibility to all adults by May 1.
Last week, Biden said that the "vast, vast majority of adults" can expect to be eligible for vaccination by April 19 and "won't have to wait until May 1."
In his remarks on Tuesday, Biden will credit governors' efforts to meet his original May 1 deadline, CNN reports. He'll also reportedly announce that 150 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in his first 75 days in office. The president before taking office set a goal of administering 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days, and after that milestone was met early, the goal was doubled to 200 million doses. The U.S is on pace to meet this goal.