WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — President Biden is expected to direct states to make all adults eligible for the coronavirus vaccine by May 1, according to The White House.
President Biden is expected to outline the plan in a primetime address to the nation on Thursday night to get the U.S. 'closer to normal' by July 4. Biden's address also marks the one-year anniversary of the U.S. coronavirus lockdown.
What will the summer look like?
“The President will also be very clear that this depends on the American people doing their part to get to a more independent Independence Day than we had in 2020," a senior administration officials said.
Biden will also lay out plans for a national safe schools reopening summit to focus on best practices.
Senior administration officials tell NewsNation that Biden will order an additional 4,000 active-duty troops to help with vaccine distribution and increase vaccinators to include: dentists, paramedics, physician assistants, veterinarians, medical & health care students.
The administration will also launch a website to help people learn if they're qualified to administer shots, as well as one to find vaccines. There will also be a call center created. The federal government will also assist with state and local governments to develop websites, if requested.
Watch the primetime address on NewsNation and NewsNationNow.com. The speech will be at 8 p.m. (EST)/7 p.m. (CST).
Key points President Biden is expected to make
- 700 additional community health centers in underserved communities. These will support low-income, minority patients, rural and tribal communities and many will use vans to deliver vaccines.
- More than 20,000 pharmacies will participate in the federal pharmacy program. This will be double the current amount of stores participating.
- Double the number of community vaccination centers run by FEMA and the U.S. Military.
- Step-by-step guidance from CDC to return to travel, small gatherings, go to work and worship.
- Expand screening testing in schools and focus in March to get all educators vaccinated.
- New focus on expanded testing and the ability to identify variants with genomic sequencing.
Biden will deliver his address in the East Room. These addresses delivered to the nation from the East Wing are typically not commonplace and usually signify a moment.
More than 528,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States, and just about 10% of the country has been fully vaccinated. Biden said on Wednesday that he would use his address to discuss "what we've been through as a nation this past year."
"But more importantly, I'm going to talk about what comes next. I'm going to launch the next phase of the COVID response and explain what we will do as a government and what we will ask of the American people," he said.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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