President Joe Biden is commemorating 50 million COVID-19 vaccine shots despite the “mess” he inherited from the previous administration.
While delivering remarks on Thursday, he noted one of the first goals of his presidency was to get 100 million shots administered within his first 100 days.
“At first critics said that goal was too ambitious, no one could do that, then they said it was too small… America will be the first country, perhaps the only one, to get that done,” Biden said.
He continued, “I’m here to report we’re halfway there, 50 million shots in just 37 days since I’ve become president, that’s weeks ahead of schedule… we’re moving in the right direction though despite the mess we inherited from the previous administration.”
Watch his remarks below:
‘At first critics said that goal was too ambitious, no one could do that, then they said it was too small’ — Pres. Biden celebrates 50 million shots in just 37 days, despite the ‘mess’ he inherited from the previous administration pic.twitter.com/Lr01ksMBA7
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) February 25, 2021
He predicted this coming week the nation will administer over 12 million shots.
While delivering remarks at the Pfizer plant on Friday, the president criticized Trump’s “failed” vaccination plan, as IJR reported.
“Just over four weeks ago, America had no real plan to vaccinate most of the country. My predecessor, as my mother would say, God love him, failed to order enough vaccines, failed to mobilize the effort to administer the shots, failed to set up vaccine centers. That changed the moment we took office,” Biden said.
The former president has received praise for the speed at which the vaccine was developed from National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, as IJR reported.
“The fact that we, in December, had not one but two vaccines that had gone through trials of at least 30,000 participants and had been judged safe and effective by a very rigorous and very public FDA process is just breathtaking that that got done in 11 months from when we first knew about this virus is at least five years faster than it’s ever been done before,” he said during an interview with Axios.