Biden primetime address to mark one-year COVID anniversary
Biden's speech is set to focus on the sacrifices of the American people and how to combat COVID
President Biden’s primetime speech tonight marks the one-year anniversary of the nationwide COVID-19 shutdown.
Three main points of the speech focus on the progress made during 50 days of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccination program.
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-Sacrifices made by the American people, the more than 500,000 lives lost, and the millions of people whose lives have been changed by the pandemic.
-Operational challenges the country has faced and the work Biden’s team has done to rapidly increase the number of vaccinations, vaccinators, and vaccination sites up and running.
-Next steps the president will take to get the pandemic under control, including leveling with the American people about what is still required to defeat the virus, and providing a hopeful vision of what is possible if we all come together.
This week, Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged during the COVID Task Force meeting the hope for herd immunity in this country would be late summer and or early fall with 70 to 85 percent of the population being vaccinated.
He admits, “If a significant number of people do not get vaccinated we do not reach that [herd immunity] number.”
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But there remains great concerns about communities who are reluctant to get vaccinated.
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Rochelle Walensky says, “If you have a population rate that is 85 percent protected across the country but a community that is only 50 percent protected, you can have outbreaks in that community.”
Federal health officials recommend people take the vaccinations that are available to them. The three emergency use vaccinations that are being administered: the one- dose Johnson and Johnson, and two-dose Pfizer and the two-dose Moderna.
Dr. Fauci thinks “Everyday that you put two million to three million vaccinations into people, it makes society be more and more protected.”
The COVID Task Force continues to recommend wearing a mask and staying six feet apart even as more people are being vaccinated. A reminder, you are not considered fully vaccinated until two weeks after your final shot.
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