The elected US president has declared the fight against the Corona pandemic to be his most urgent task.
The elected US President Joe Biden wants to make the renowned corona expert Anthony Fauci his top medical advisor. Biden told CNN news channel on Thursday that he had asked Fauci in an interview to “be the chief medical advisor for me and part of the Covid team”. Biden also called on the US population to wear a protective mask for the next 100 days after his swearing-in in January.
The head of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases is a member of the Corona Crisis Staff of the outgoing President Donald Trump. With his expertise and his unvarnished assessments of the Corona pandemic, the 79-year-old immunologist gained great public recognition. At the same time, he repeatedly incurred the displeasure of the President, who had been talking down the danger of the corona virus from the beginning.
Corona pandemic as most urgent task
Biden, who will take office on January 20, has declared the fight against the Corona pandemic to be his most urgent task. He announced on CNN that he would call on the population to wear a protective mask for the next 100 days after his swearing-in. “Not forever. 100 days.” This, and with vaccines, could reduce infection rates “significantly”.
Biden also announced that he would have himself publicly vaccinated as soon as a vaccine was approved. “If Doctor Fauci says we have a safe vaccine, I will stand in front of the public,” said the future president, then tapped his hand on the shoulder to indicate a vaccination. “It is important to communicate to the U.S. population that it is safe.” Earlier, former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton had declared their willingness to be vaccinated in front of running cameras to promote confidence in the vaccine.
Vaccines before approval
In the U.S., the Mainz-based biotechnology company BioNTech together with the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and the U.S. company Moderna have filed applications for emergency approvals for their vaccines. Approval could be granted in the coming weeks. In addition, the pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are expected to present data on the efficacy of their vaccine candidates soon.
The US government plans to vaccinate 100 million people against the corona virus by the end of February. However, experts fear that many people may not be vaccinated due to distrust of the vaccines – especially since the active ingredients were developed in record time.
The USA is currently seeing a dramatic increase in corona infections. According to John Hopkins University, more than 14 million infections have now been confirmed, and more than 275,000 people have died as a result of an infection. These are by far the highest numbers worldwide.
- hp, source: kurier.at. picture: pixabay.com
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