Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden: 90% Of Americans Eligible For Covid Vaccine By April 19
Roll Call: Biden Says 90 Percent Of Adults Will Be COVID-19 Vaccine Eligible By April 19
By April 19, at least 90 percent of U.S. adults will be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines, President Joe Biden announced Monday. Biden had previously announced that he wanted to have all adult Americans eligible to receive vaccines no later than the beginning of May, but many states are moving ahead more quickly whether or not sufficient supply has yet materialized. (Lesniewski, 3/29)
CBS News: Biden Says 90% Of All U.S. Adults Will Be Eligible For COVID-19 Vaccine By April 19
Mr. Biden on Monday also touted the fact that 100 million vaccine doses had been administered well ahead of his original goal of 100 days. He has since doubled his goal to 200 million doses of the vaccine in his first 100 days. More than 145 million vaccine doses have been administered so far, according to the CDC. To help more Americans access the vaccine, Mr. Biden said he is directing his COVID team to locate vaccination sites within 5 miles of 90% of all Americans. The White House is expanding the number of pharmacies that can administer the vaccine, and by April 19, there will be 12 more federally run vaccination sites. (Linton and Quinn, 3/29)
Stat: Biden Leans Heavily On Flagship Trump-Era Initiative Operation Warp Speed
The Biden White House has made no secret of its disdain for President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed. The “Star Trek”-inspired name is gone. The seal, emblazoned with its floating, red and blue coronavirus structure, was stripped from command headquarters. But if not in name, Trump’s colossal effort to develop and distribute Covid-19 vaccines in record time lives on — now, as internally called, “The Operation.” (Florko, 3/30)
Meanwhile, more states announce eligibility expansions —
Axios: New York To Make All Adults Eligible For COVID Vaccine Beginning April 6
New York State will make adults over the age of 30 eligible for the coronavirus vaccine on March 30, and all adults 16 years and older eligible beginning April 6, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday. The state was the original epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., and it's reported nearly 50,000 total deaths since the pandemic began. New York will make all adults eligible for the vaccine almost one month ahead of President Biden's goal for all states to do so by May 1. (3/29)
Axios: Texas Expands Vaccine Eligibility To All Adults
Texas joined five other states on Monday in rolling out COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to anyone over the age of 16, "regardless of health conditions," per the New York Times. Texas is the biggest state to expand this eligibility for coronavirus inoculations. Some 22 million Texans can now get vaccinated against the virus, and health officials told the NYT people were lining up for a dose Monday. (Falconer, 3/30)
