President Biden said the exodus of millions of women from the workforce and the closure of schools, along with mental health problems that could arise during the Covid-19 pandemic they constitute a “national emergency.”
Norah O’Donnell, presenter and director of “CBS Evening News,” spoke with Mr. Biden in the network’s first news interview he has offered since taking office.
“It’s a national emergency. It’s really a national emergency,” Biden said. Nearly 3 million women have them left the staff during the last year.
The president said he and his staff realized that the Trump administration’s treatment of the pandemic was “even more serious than we thought” once they entered the White House.
CBS News
“We thought they had indicated that there was a lot more vaccine available,” Biden said. “And it didn’t turn out to be the case. That’s why we’ve accelerated all our possibilities.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser and the country’s chief infectious disease doctor, has said that to get the herd’s immunity, 75% of Americans must be vaccinated. At the current rate of 1.3 million vaccines a day, CBS News has estimated that 75% of Americans will not be vaccinated until the end of 2021.
“We can’t wait that long,” Mr. Biden said.
In an example of the rise, Biden said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told him the administration could use the 32 stadiums as vaccination sites.
“Will you use them, NFL stadiums to get vaccinated?” O’Donnell asked.
“We absolutely will,” Biden said. “And I mean, let me put it this way: I’m telling my team that they’re available and I think we’ll use them. Look, one thing was that we had enough vaccine, which we didn’t have. We’re pushing as hard as we can because it’s make more vaccines “.
“You’re president of the United States, commander-in-chief. Can you do something in terms of going to Modern, going to Pfizer, saying we need more production?” O’Donnell asked.
“Yeah, I think, because we’ve already done that,” Biden said. “But the idea that this can be done and that we can get the herd’s immunity long before the end of next summer is very difficult.”
Biden agreed with O’Donnell that there is a mental health emergency with children out of school.
“Do you think it’s time for schools to reopen?” O’Donnell asked.
“I think it’s time for schools to reopen safely. Safely,” Biden said. “You need to have fewer people in the classroom. You need to have ventilation systems that have been reworked. Our CDC commissioner will come out with a science-based approach, within what I think as early as Wednesday to set out what the requirements are. minimums are “.
On the first day of Mr. Biden, he signed an executive order to prioritize the reopening of schools within the first 100 days in office. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to publish guidelines this week on the reopening of the school.
“Among the things we need to do to make sure schools are safe is to make sure that the community spread of this disease decreases and that means it is our responsibility to work to get our children back to school safely and our teachers go back to school safely, ”CDC principal Rochelle Walensky said Friday.
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