BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — President Joe Biden has visited some of the nation's leading scientists on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19 and announced that the U.S. will have enough supply of the vaccine by the end of the summer to inoculate 300 million Americans.
Biden on Thursday toured the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory at the sprawling National Institutes of Health complex just outside Washington that created the COVID-19 vaccine now manufactured by Moderna.
Biden says the U.S. had secured contractual commitments from Moderna and Pfizer to deliver the 600 million doses of vaccine by the end of July — more than a month earlier than initially anticipated.
“It’s been a hell of a learning process,” Biden said. “It is no secret that the vaccination program was in much worse shape than my team and I anticipated."
The U.S. is currently on pace to exceed Biden’s goal of administering 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office. In his first three weeks, more than 26 million shots have been delivered.
