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."
After the Chicago teachers union voted to work remotely due to what they say is a lack of safety protocols amid the COVID-19 surge, the school system canceled classes on Wednesday, citing harm that remote learning has done to the city's children. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, joined Cheddar to discuss the issues surrounding the latest dispute between educators and schools. She said that the return to in-person learning would likely be halted until more COVID tests could be provided for districts. "This is a terrible situation for everybody, and we need the testing, and we need the masks," she said. "It's the omicron surge that has created this disruption, and we are trying to do the best we can. And this is the only school district that has this kind of action right now." The teachers might not be returning to their schools for at least two weeks amid the ongoing tensions.
Illinois State Senator Robert Martwick joins Cheddar News to discuss the new bill he co-sponsored allowing students in the state to take 5 mental health days without a doctor's note.
On Monday, President Biden announced his new plan to take on inflation by taking down the big meat monopolies - turning to the federal government's antitrust authorities to investigate the major meatpackers that control a significant share of the market. The White House plans to devote one billion dollars to aiding independent meat and poultry producers in an effort to undercut the few powerful meat producers that have control of the sector. Austin Frerick, deputy director of Thurman Arnold Project at Yale, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
As the pandemic drags on, so does the widespread great resignation. In November alone, 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs, marking a new record high, and showing a 9 percent jump from the month prior. On the flip side, the number of people filing tax paperwork to start new businesses is surging, with over 430,000 new businesses launching in November. Rhett Buttle, the founder of Public Private Strategies and national business advisor to the Biden for President campaign, joined Wake Up with Cheddar to discuss.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is ramping up a civil investigation into The Trump Organization. The AG's office has subpoenaed Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. They have refused to comply with the subpoenas. Bradley Moss, national security attorney, joins Cheddar News to discuss the next steps in this investigation.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has officially reduced the 110-year prison sentence of truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos to 10 years, calling the initial lengthy sentence “unjust.” Dan Gilleon, constitutional attorney at Gilleon Law Firm APC, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Former Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was sworn in as the newest Mayor of New York City. Adams is now expected to work on a number of issues such as crime and coronavirus. Erin Durkin,, reporter at PoliticoNY, joins Cheddar News to discuss more.
California's new composting law will affect what residents do in their kitchens. As of this week, Californians will have to recycle excess food in an effort to reduce emissions caused by food waste. Cities and counties will turn recycled food into compost or use it as a renewable energy source. California's new law is the largest mandatory residential food waste recycling program in the country. Rachel Wagoner, Director of the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery called the law 'the biggest change to trash' since recycling started in the 1980s. She joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
As the U.S. comes up on the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection.,A.C. Thompson, investigative reporter at ProPublica, joined Cheddar's Baker Machado to discuss updates to American Insurrection by FRONTLINE, ProPublica and Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program. The documentary investigates the attack on the Capitol touched off by the lie that the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump but with new information gleaned since the event including interviews with lawmakers and law enforcement and the evolution of groups like the Boogaloo Boys and the Proud Boys behind the attack. "In some ways those groups that were kind of the vanguard of January 6 are maybe no longer relevant because their message is everywhere," he said.
