With 200M Shots Goal Met, Biden Urges Businesses To Help Get Rest Vaccinated

NPR: Biden Says Goal Of 200 Million COVID-19 Vaccinations In 100 Days Has Been Met
President Biden announced Wednesday that Americans have received 200 million COVID-19 vaccinations since he took office, double his initial goal of 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days, and what he called "an incredible achievement for the nation." Biden, who will officially cross the 100-day mark next week, also announced the availability of tax credits to employers who give their workers paid leave to get a shot. (Naylor, 4/21)

Politico: Biden: 200 Million Americans Have Been Vaccinated
The administration also unveiled a new tax credit designed to encourage businesses with fewer than 500 employees to give paid time off to workers for getting vaccinated — a policy included in Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which was signed into law last month. Businesses and nonprofits may receive a tax credit for up to $511 per day of paid sick leave that employees take to get the shot or recover from its side effects from April 1 through Sept. 30. (Forgey and Roubein, 4/21)

CNN: Biden Calls For Businesses To Give Paid Time Off For Employees To Get Vaccinated As He Touts 200 Million Shots
"As we move into the vaccination campaign focused on working age adults, one concern I've heard from so many Americans is that they can't afford to take the time off to get vaccinated or lose a day's work because they are feeling slightly under the weather after their shot," Biden said in remarks Wednesday afternoon. He added, "I'm calling on every employer, large and small, in every state to give employees the time off they need -- with pay -- to get vaccinated, and any time they need -- with pay -- to recover if they're feeling under the weather after the shot. No working American should lose a single dollar from their paycheck because they chose to fulfill their patriotic duty of getting vaccinated." (Diamond, Sullivan, Collins, Mattingly and Vazquez, 4/21)

In related news —

The Washington Post: U.S. Vaccinations Dropped 11 Percent Over The Past Week — The Biggest Decline Since February 
Daily coronavirus vaccinations have slowed significantly for the first time since February, a sign that demand is slipping even though every American adult is now eligible for the shots. About 3 million Americans are getting vaccinated daily, an 11 percent decrease in the seven-day average of daily shots administered over the past week. The unprecedented drop is rivaled only by a brief falloff that occurred in February, when winter storms forced the closure of vaccination sites and delayed shipments nationwide. (Keating, Nirappil and Stanley-Becker, 4/21)

Stateline: Vaccination Outreach Shifts As Demand Drops In Some States
Four months into the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history, roughly half of all adult Americans have received at least one shot against COVID-19 and the nation is vaccinating more than 3 million people daily. But those nationwide averages belie looming standstills in pockets of the country where people aren’t showing up for appointments and vaccines are piling up in refrigerators. “We’ve harvested the low-hanging fruit, now we’ve got to do the hard work,” said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “For every incremental increase in the number of people vaccinated, it’s going to get harder and harder.” (Vestal, 4/21)

CNN: US Has The Opportunity To Overcome The Pandemic But A Major Challenge Lies Ahead, Expert Says
On the road toward a return to normalcy, the rapidly climbing number of Covid-19 vaccinations is good news. But a major challenge may lie ahead, a leading health expert says. Tens of millions of Americans haven't started their vaccinations yet, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins told CNN on Wednesday, and "a lot of those folks are still not sure that they want to take part in this amazing opportunity to put this virus behind us." "We have to really figure out how to get the messages out there so that those who are still undecided get the information they need to see why this is really something they would want to do." (Maxouris, 4/22)

Bloomberg: Biden Says He’ll Send Vaccines Overseas Once Supply Sufficient
President Joe Biden said the U.S. wants to share coronavirus vaccines with other countries but won’t begin sending doses abroad until it has sufficient supply at home.“ We’re looking at what is going to be done with some of the vaccines that we are not using. We’ve got to make sure they are safe to be sent,” Biden said at the White House Wednesday. “And we hope to be able to be of some help and value to countries around the world.” (Wingrove and Sink, 4/21)

Bloomberg: U.S. Weighs Global Vaccine-Expansion Move Opposed By Drugmakers
The Biden administration is weighing an appeal from progressive Democrats to accelerate global access to Covid-19 vaccines by supporting a waiver of intellectual-property protections, a move opposed by big drugmakers. Lawmakers led by senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren last week called on President Joe Biden to back a proposal before the World Trade Organization that seeks a broad waiver from obligations on the protection of intellectual property rights, including patents, copyrights and trade secrets. The aim is to ease rules regarding the production and export of vaccines and other critical medical goods needed to combat the Covid-19 virus. (Martin and Decker, 4/22)

And first lady Jill Biden is on a vaccine outreach tour —

AP: Jill Biden Visits US Southwest Amid Vaccine Push
First lady Jill Biden has kicked off a three day visit to the U.S. Southwest on Wednesday with a tour of a vaccination clinic in New Mexico, where early efforts to get people registered for shots helped to propel the state’s standing as a national leader in vaccine distribution. The tour includes stops in Albuquerque and later the Navajo Nation as the United States is set to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of administering 200 million coronavirus doses in his first 100 days in office. The president also outlined his administration’s latest plans to motivate more Americans to get shots as demand diminishes. (Bryan and Lee, 4/21)

AP: Jill Biden To Visit Navajo Nation, Once Floored By COVID-19
Jill Biden is traveling to the country’s largest Native American reservation, the Navajo Nation, which was hit hard by the coronavirus but is outpacing the U.S. in vaccination rates while maintaining strict pandemic restrictions. The trip Thursday and Friday will be Biden’s third to the reservation that spans 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometers) in the Four Corners region, and her inaugural visit as first lady. (Fonseca, 4/22)

AP: Navajo Nation Reports Its First COVID-19 Death In 11 Days
The Navajo Nation on Wednesday reported its first COVID-19 related death after 10 consecutive days of no such fatalities. The tribe reported one death and eight new confirmed coronavirus cases on the vast reservation that covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The latest numbers bring the Navajo Nation’s pandemic case total to 30,388 with the known death toll now at 1,263. (4/22)