President Joe Biden signed a slew of executive actions this week aimed at vaccinating 100 million Americans in the first 100 days of his administration. Among the initiatives the president announced is a planned expansion of pharmacy partnerships, mobilizing the National Guard, and finding more healthcare workers to help distribute vaccines. But, Biden is still warning that the darkest days of the pandemic are yet to come, predicting the virus death toll will probably top 500,000 next month.
To ramp up supplies, the president is giving government agencies a green light to use the Defense Production Act to direct manufacturing to help increase the supply of masks, PPE, testing kits, and the necessary materials for vaccines.
"It gives the federal government more focus and more opportunity to coordinate a response from the federal level, which is always helpful," said Tom Price, former secretary of Health and Human Services under President Trump and a former representative from Georgia.
The president also ordered new requirements for mask-wearing, mandating them on planes, trains, and buses when traveling between states. Masks must also be worn inside all federal facilities.
"At the end of the day this is public health, which means you've got to increase the administration of the vaccine, you've got to increase the testing, you've got to make sure you're decreasing the spread of the transmission," said Price. "That means wearing a mask, physical distancing, making certain that you're washing your hands, and not participating in activities if you're feeling ill at all."
President Biden's "National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness"
is a stark contrast to former President Donald Trump's coronavirus actions. His administration never released a formal pandemic plan and left many actions solely up to the states. Still, Price said he thinks focusing the federal government's efforts on helping the states is an important aspect of tackling the pandemic.
"Remember the states have the infrastructure that is necessary in order to be able to administer the vaccine and to provide the tests, the public health, the infrastructure. All of this is at the state level. So, any help that can be given to the states is vital," said the former HHS secretary.
Honing in on one state, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday that New York has already used 93 percent of its coronavirus vaccine supply, putting some pressure on Biden in the early days of his administration.
"The state of New York actually asked the new administration … for the opportunity to themselves go out and purchase vaccine on their own and the federal government said no, the Biden administration said no, 'we don't want you to do that.' Now, that's all well and good so long as the federal government is making certain that the amount of vaccine being produced is the amount that's needed out there," said Price.
"We may be seeing the first little disagreement about how we get the greatest number of vaccines to the individuals that need it most acutely."
To make sure that governments can get the job done when it comes to vaccinations, he added that "communication is absolutely the key" for states, like New York, to get across their needs and, "The federal government needs to take that information in real-time and say 'this is what we're doing to address it.'" Price emphasized that it's the job of the government to get what is needed to those on the ground at the local level.
"There is a whole lot of vaccine out there that hasn't been given, as they say, in arms," he said. "We're giving about 900,000 vaccines a day right now so the goal of the Biden administration, of having 100 million doses provided in the first 100 days, is certainly achievable, and I would suggest that it may be a little low."
Price made a comparison to the flu, saying that when the flu shot is given out in the fall, the U.S. provides about three million vaccines a day during the height of the season.
However, Price did note that he believes the U.S. can accomplish Biden's goals and stop the spread of COVID-19.
"It is achievable because it's a public health challenge, and we've met public health challenges before."
Andrew Cuomo is reportedly planning his comeback. According to the Wall Street Journal, the former New York governor and his aides are considering how to make his first public appearance since he abruptly resigned last August amid sexual harassment allegations. Jake Lahut, politics reporter for Insider, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss Cuomo's potential return to politics.
The pressure is on for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson - after his closest aides handed in their resignations this week.
It comes after a report found that 16 parties had taken place at Downing Street while Covid lockdown protocols were in place in the region. Ari Aramesh, Attorney & National Security/Foreign Policy Analyst joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
President Biden has ordered about 3,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe as Russia refuses to back off its pressure on Ukraine. The deployments to Poland, Germany, and Romania are a show of support to NATO allies concerned about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is in addition to the 8,500 troops put on high alert. David Tafuri, former Obama campaign foreign policy advisor and former State Department official, joined Cheddar to discuss what this move means for U.S.-Russia relations.
After tennis player Peng Shuai made an explicit sexual assault allegation toward a former Chinese government official, she disappeared from the public eye. Her recent reappearance with the IOC alongside a Chinese Olympic committee official raised eyebrows and renewed concerns for her safety. Asian affairs expert Gordon Chang, author of "The Coming Collapse of China," joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Peng Shuai's retraction and the various human rights controversies swirling at the Beijing games. "It's clear that the IOC was working with Beijing to make sure that she did not express herself freely," Chang said. "So really this is the IOC being complicit in these mechanisms of control over Peng."
The opening ceremony of the 2022 winter Olympics has kicked off at the Beijing national stadium. 150,000 spectators are in attendance for the games inside the 'closed loop' system separating Olympic personnel from the public. Cheddar News spoke with Brian Cazenueve, Sports Illustrated contributor, to share the highlights you may have missed and much more.
The Biden Administration is set to revise federal rules to address potential security risks from foreign-owned apps, mainly Tiktok. This comes after the White House opted not to pursue a forced shutdown of the Chinese-owned video sharing platform. Under these new rules, federal oversight would be expanded to explicitly include apps that could be used by foreign adversaries to steal or otherwise obtain data. Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Craig Singleton, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Although this week's weather is predicted to be less severe than the 2021 storm, Texans are preparing for the worst - stocking up on supplies and emptying shelves in grocery stores, once again. Some Texans still have not recovered from last year's tragedy, and are heading into the next few weeks with anxiety for what's to come. Leslie Beyer, CEO of the Houston-based energy workforce & technology council, joins Cheddar News to discuss if the Texas grid will fail again.
Student loan debt continues to be a major concern for tens of millions of Americans who collectively owe about $1.7 trillion. Black college students often take on larger amounts of student debt in order to pay for a higher education. In turn, they are more likely to struggle post-graduation with repaying their debt, creating a racial wealth gap divide. Andre Perry, senior fellow at Brookings Institution joined All Hands to help break down the black student debt crisis.
After two NYPD officers were killed with an illegal gun, President Biden made a trip to New York City to speak on the issue of gun violence fed by the "iron pipeline" of illegal firearms that make their way from the South to the Big Apple. Kris Brown, the president of the gun violence prevention organization Brady United, joined Cheddar to discuss what this visit from the president could mean for the future of gun laws in America. "He's asked Congress to pass things like expanding the Brady background check system, but with the filibuster a barrier to so much action right now in the Congress, he's looking at solutions that involve funding at the federal level and really involve enforcement."
