Biden urges Americans to take vaccines as storms hinder inoculation campaign
President Joe Biden has reassured Americans that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and urged them to “please” take the shots, as a historic winter freeze across broad swaths of the United States is causing delays in vaccine shipments and deliveries.
Biden, who has made combatting the coronavirus pandemic his top priority since taking office on January 20, used his visit to a Pfizer factory making COVID-19 vaccines to address Americans skeptical about the medicines.
“The vaccines are safe. Please, for yourself, your family, your community, this country, take the vaccine when it’s your turn and it’s available. That’s how we beat this pandemic,” he said on Friday against a backdrop of Pfizer’s manufacturing equipment at the Michigan facility.
The president said that companies manufacturing the vaccines are “fastidious” about the safety of their products. “If there’s one message to cut through to everyone in the country, it’s this: Vaccines are safe,” he added.
The Biden administration is trying to speed up its ambitious inoculation campaign to vaccinate most American adults as local governments scramble to get more doses to contain the virus that has killed nearly half a million Americas.
However, the winter storms that have killed at least 21 people and left millions without power in large areas of the country have also shuttered COVID-19 inoculation centers and hindered vaccine distributions.
Biden has set a goal of administering 100 million shots in his administration’s first 100 days, and the freezing temperatures handled the program its first major setback amid concerns among some Americans about the safety of the vaccines.
source: parstoday.com