White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki appeared to walk back President Joe Biden’s prediction that every American who wants a COVID-19 vaccine will be able to get one in the spring.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Psaki was asked how Biden could make that prediction when officials say they do not know how many doses of the vaccine are in the national stockpile and while states are encountering problems distributing vaccines.
She said officials “do have a sense” of how many doses of the vaccine are available and have been distributed and said they are “assessing” what issues are holding up with distribution and administration of the vaccines.
“What the president’s goal is, is ensuring that there’s greater availability in the spring,” Psaki said as she turned to Biden’s comments. “He will push his team. He pushes his team on Covid, and updates on it, even when it’s a meeting about other issues. This is his focus every single day.”
She continued, “But the fact is, is every American is not going to be eligible this spring. We are going to continue to increase supply. That’s part of it. And he has said many, many times it’s going to take months and months for a broad swath of the population to be vaccinated.”
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“But he would if he were standing here today… defer to health and medical experts to give their assessments on when we can reach the point of herd immunity,” she added.
Speaking to reporters that the White House on Monday, Biden was asked when he expects that every American who wants the vaccine will be able to get one.
“I think it will be this spring. I think we’ll be able to do that his spring,” he said.
Biden continued, “I feel confident that by summer, we’re going to be well on our way to heading toward herd immunity and increasing the access for people who aren’t first on the list all the way going down to children… But I feel good about where we’re going, and I think we can get it done.”