President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. will have enough supply of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the summer to inoculate 300 million Americans.
Biden made the announcement at the sprawling National Institutes of Health complex just outside Washington as he visited some of the nation's leading scientists on the frontlines of the fight against the disease. He toured the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory that created the COVID-19 vaccine now manufactured by Moderna and being rolled out in the U.S. and other countries.
The U.S. is on pace to exceed Biden’s goal of administering 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office, with more than 26 million shots delivered in his first three weeks.
“That’s just the floor,” Biden said. "Our end goal is beating COVID-19.”
Biden announced on Thursday that the U.S. had secured contractual commitments from Moderna and Pfizer to deliver the 600 million doses of vaccine by the end of July — more than a month earlier than initially anticipated.
“We’re now on track to have enough supply for 300 million Americans by the end of July," he announced.
The pace of injections could increase further if a third coronavirus vaccine from drugmaker Johnson & Johnson receives approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Speaking with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease specialist, Biden emphasized that his administration is doing everything possible to increase the vaccine supply and the country's capacity to deliver injections into arms.
“It’s been a hell of a learning process," Biden said.
Biden, wearing a mask, used his remarks to criticize President Donald Trump, saying he inherited “no plan to vaccinate most of the country.”
“It is no secret that the vaccination program was in much worse shape than my team and I anticipated,” he said.
To date, the Biden administration has deployed active-duty troops to help stand up mass vaccination sites in several states, as it looks to lay the groundwork for increasing the rate of vaccinations once more supply is available.
The Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory is led by Dr. Barney Graham, whose team made critical discoveries years ago that laid the groundwork for rapid development of that and other COVID-19 vaccines. Before the pandemic erupted, one of Graham’s research fellows, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, had been using those earlier findings to develop a vaccine for MERS, a cousin of COVID-19.
On the tour, Biden was shown the lab bench where researchers sequenced the virus and developed the precursor of the Moderna vaccine.
Armed with their prior research, Corbett and Graham had a head start when Chinese scientists shared the genetic map of the new coronavirus in January 2020. They already knew how to make spike proteins, which coat the surface of the new coronavirus and its MERS relative, that were stable enough to be used as a key vaccine ingredient.
Within days, the NIH had sent instructions to Moderna to brew up doses, and Corbett and her colleagues were setting up the key lab and animal tests that would eventually prove they were on the right track.
Associated Press Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard in Washington contributed to this report.
The FDA has granted emergency use authorization to Pfizer's pill to treat covid-19. The treatment, called Paxlovid, is the first antiviral covid-19 pill that people can take at home.
Pfizer says the pill can reduce the risk of severe illness by 90 percent and is intended for people at high risk for severe disease, including those over 65, people with obesity, diabetes, or a weakened immune system. Professor Peter Pitts, Founder, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest & Former FDA Associate joined Wake Up with Cheddar to discuss.
Ahead of a four day week for the markets due to the upcoming Christmas holiday, investors hoping for a quiet end to the year, or even a Santa Claus rally, may not be in luck. Investors are still digesting the latest from the Fed regarding a quicker than expected taper, as well as ever increasing blow back as the Omicron variant spreads. Octavio Marenzi, CEO of Opimas LLC, explains why the markets have been so volatile ever since the emergence of the latest variant and what to expect going forward into 2022.
Carlo and Baker cover the heartening news on the Covid front ahead of the holiday, plus President Biden punting student loan repayments again, a new space telescope and Love, Hate, Ate: Christmas Eve Eve Edition!
Pfizer, one of the makers of a currently available COVID-19 vaccine, has taken another critical step forward in combatting the pandemic by getting regulatory approval for Paxlovid, a pill treatment rather than IV or injection as others have been. Dr. Purvi Parikh, an immunologist with the Allergy and Asthma Network, spoke to Cheddar about the ramifications of the authorization. "This is huge, especially because we know early treatment does keep people out of the hospital, especially with this antiviral," Parikh said. "The fact that people can start a regimen at home so they don't have to leave and further expose others is a big breakthrough." She also explained how the drug is a combination of two antiviral medications that are not without its risks but should be safe over the short term.
This year's worldwide semiconductor shortage limited the supply of everything from new cars to smartphones; and now, many in the chip industry expect the shortage to continue deep into 2022, and maybe even 2023. Semiconductor senior research analyst for Robert W. Baird & Co., Tristan Gerra, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Direct health care company Nomi Health recently raised $110 million in a Series A round. Nomi Health lets public and private organizations directly purchase healthcare at reduced costs, and pay providers in real-time. It also delivers healthcare directly to under-served communities via its fleet of mobile care units, which the company says is the largest in the country. Nomi Health says its mission is to improve the health care experience for all Americans. Nomi Health CEO Mark Newman joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
The airline industry says it is contending with staff shortages that threaten to hamper operations amid the COVID resurgence, andDelta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian called on the CDC to revise its guidance for vaccinated workers who test positive from a 10-day quarantine to just five. Chuck Liberman, chief investment officer and managing partner at Advisors Capital Management LLC, joined Cheddar to talk about the current guidance on isolation and why he believes the omicron variant calls for more relaxed guidance given its reportedly mild symptoms.
The boys discuss President Biden's plans to send out free rapid tests as the testing supply chain starts to buckle ahead of the holidays. Also, why aren't Americans having more babies, and The Matrix returns.
NASA is launching its new generation of space telescopes just before Christmas. The James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch on December 24th, will succeed the Hubble space telescope as the world's most powerful complex space observatory. The project has been 30 years in the making and is one of the most highly anticipated space science missions of the 21st century. Klaus Pontoppidan, astronomer and JWST Project Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
With Omicron becoming the dominant COVID-19 variant in the U.S., President Joe Biden announced that he will make 500 million rapid tests available to Americans in January 2022. Cheddar News speaks with Dr. Shereef Elnahal, President and CEO of University Hospital why testing is key to combatting the spread of the virus.
