Biden Blames Trump Over Vaccines During Visit to Pfizer Plant
By: Jennifer Epstein (MSN)
"Failed to mobilize the effort to administer the shots. Failed to set up vaccine centers."
He got it to the states. It was up to them where to set priorities. NOT the fed.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden on Friday slammed Donald Trump for failing to secure enough Covid-19 shots as he toured a Michigan facility where Pfizer Inc. is manufacturing its vaccine.
© Bloomberg Joe Biden
"My predecessor -- as my mother would say, God love him -- failed to order enough vaccines," Biden said Friday, repeating criticism he's repeatedly made of his predecessor. "Failed to mobilize the effort to administer the shots. Failed to set up vaccine centers."
In remarks delivered at the facility, Biden sought to reassure the public that the shots are safe and described efforts by his administration to increase supplies and vaccination sites. He also sought to rally support for his $1.9 trillion economic stimulus plan that he proposed in response to the pandemic.
The plant, in Portage, just outside Kalamazoo in southwest Michigan, is Pfizer's largest manufacturing facility. There, the company's coronavirus vaccine is formulated and filled into vials before being shipped for distribution.
Biden's visit was just his second trip away from the East Coast since taking office last month, following a Tuesday appearance in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at a CNN town hall. Last week, he toured the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, getting a first-hand look at federal research on the virus.
Since taking office, Biden has ordered an additional 100 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine, bringing the total to 300 million, which is enough for 150 million people. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines each require two doses. The president said Tuesday that Pfizer agreed to speed up shipments after Biden invoked the Defense Production Act, which enables the government to nationalize manufacturing in emergencies.
Unlike Moderna, Pfizer declined full participation in the government's "Operation Warp Speed" vaccine-development program under former President Donald Trump. Biden has since scrapped that name.
Before Friday's virtual meeting of the leaders of the Group of Seven nations, White House officials on Thursday said the U.S. would immediately commit $2 billion to the effort known as Covax, which aims to help lower-income countries with vaccines. Biden will pledge an additional $2 billion through 2021 and 2022 on condition that other nations' fulfill their commitments.
A third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, would require only one shot but the administration said Wednesday that it sees its distribution starting out slowly once it's authorized by the FDA, which will likely happen within a few days of a Feb. 26 meeting to consider the company's application and clinical data.
Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla introduced Biden, calling him a "great ally" who helped obtain materials to expand capacity. Bourla said Friday that the company will use more of its manufacturing capacity and work with new suppliers to step up production of the vaccine it developed with BioNTech SE.
Biden has regularly touted his administration's progress accelerating vaccinations, and has encouraged any American with the opportunity to get a shot.
"I can't tell you a date when this crisis will end but I can tell you we're doing everything possible to have that day come sooner rather than later," Biden said.
Despite the president's criticism of Trump, Biden's administration has made only modest changes to the previous administration's vaccine plan.
The U.S. has given about 1.58 million shots per day over the past week, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, up from an average of roughly 900,000 per day in the week before Biden took office. Supply is increasing as Pfizer and Moderna Inc., the other company whose vaccine was granted emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration, ramp up their production, as well as efforts led in part by the Biden administration to increase the number of people able to administer vaccines.
If the vaccine is authorized, the administration's contract would be for 100 million doses by the end of June. White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday that those deliveries would begin with just a few million doses and most distribution would be "back-end loaded."
Battleground State
Biden's most recent visit to Michigan was during the final stretch of his campaign, on Oct. 31, when he and former President Barack Obama made joint appearances at rallies in Flint and Detroit. He won the state by more than 154,000 votes, which amounted to a 50.6% to 47.8% victory over Trump. Trump's narrow 2016 win there, with a 0.23% margin over Hillary Clinton, was the first Republican presidential victory in the state since that of George H.W. Bush in 1988.
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Is this the beginning of "but Trump" for the Biden administration?
He got it to the states. It was up to them where to set priorities. NOT the fed.
Sure sounds like it. Biden sure is getting off to a bad start with all the blaming and lying
I like how they just say that and no one asks the simple follow-up, like “what, specifically are you doing that is new?” As near as I can tell the overriding reason we have any vaccines at all at this early date is Operation Warp Speed.
Ok, so
A you have, or declare you have an event, although a slow event, which can wipe out humanity if not addressed and
B several governments which announce they will throw as much money as necessary at the problem until a safe vaccine is invented/discovered.
Operation Warp speed may have helped MRNA and others along,
but Pfizer was first, Pfizer dominates, and Pfizer was financed by the German government, not operation warp speed, nor with any fanfare.
Incorrect. Pfizer financed their own R&D, but they were willing to do so (though they may not like to admit it) in large part because they got a commitment of almost $2 Billion from the United States for manufacturing and delivery of their vaccine, and also granted emergency authorization.
Incorrect my ass.
Thanks for the admission of the obvious.
if it worked
after it was obvious that it worked. Only then is the contract meaningful.
Friend Tacos, I can only offer you condolences if you do not read the links I provide.
Here is a second link
It is rather straight forward that Trump through Operation Warp Speed offered a contract to Pfizer on July 21,2020
IF the vaccine proved effective.
The government of the USA provided no funding to Pfizer or BioNTech prior to the FDA & CDC approvals of the vaccine.
BioNTech did accept $445 million from the German government in September 2020.
BioNTech and Pfizer were alresdy in clinical trials before trump even imagined OWS.
Have a good weekend.
I don't understand your point, here. Your facts show that Germany basically did for Pfizer what the US did for Moderna. On top of that, they still got $2 Billion dollars from the US. And if you know anything about these vaccines, you know that the vaccines existed and were assumed to work way back in January 2020. They just needed to do testing and manufacturing.
My point, if you recall, was that we are where we are with vaccines because of what was done before Biden came along. Germany helping to fund Pfizer doesn't change that.
You credited Operation Warp Speed for Pfeizers success which is not only not in evidence,
Pfeizer was already in patient trials in April long before OWS was announced and long before the offer to purchase
said vaccine IF it was successful. that is not a contract or an income stream that on can spend on ANYTHING
until the FDA & CDC approved the vaccine.All Trump supplied was INCENTIVE.
On the other hand, Germany gave BioNTech 445 million in September to enable them to expand production
without suffering economic instability.
The USA OWS invested directly in Moderna and guaranteed contracts, IF their vaccine worked.
Your original premise was this
Now you've moved the goal posts from that to
Operation Warp speed was declared on May 15, 2020
Again if that was your point, please point out where you made that argument.
You seem to be hung up on a "commitment" to buy 2 billion of the vaccine if, IF, it proved effective and Pfizer could produce the same. the same government "committed" to
No money changed hands until the vaccine was deemed successful
Please note the following companies which did receive Tax payer $$ up front
noting which ones HAVE NOT YET PRODUCED ANYTHING. AND which one is missing (Pfizer )
As of August 2020, eight companies were chosen for funding of some $11 billion to expedite development and preparation for manufacturing their respective vaccine candidates. [24] [25]
The vaccine developers, different vaccine technologies, and treatments receiving government research funding are:
(two vaccine projects terminated by Merck, January 25, 2021) [37]
The above chart was from Wiki
which also notes
As much as Trump, his Administration and his supporters would like to claim that they helped to develop the Pfizer
vaccine by placing an order for it, it just isn't true.
Pfizer was intent on saving the world and bringing it's vaccine to a willing market ahead of it's competition.
Period. Full Stop.
All you have to do is read @2.
and once more, your comment about operation warp speed is invalid, inaccurate and wrong.
There are 7.9 billion still living human beans Who need the vaccine.
I will Postulate that while Pfizer "appreciates" the US offer to buy 100 million doses or 200 million,
they are much more worried about selling the rest of the planet as much of the rest of the 7.8 billion doses needed
if only one dose per person is the eventual outcome.
Or 13.8 billion doses if it is determined that two doses is ideal.
Either way, the USA only represents 4.25% of a market already diminished by Moderna, an American company.
Do the math.
Moderna owes the USA.
Pfizer can fill that first or second order and walk away, filling orders to other countries for several years
without worrying about how America feels about it or the imaginary influence of Operation Warp Speed.
Obama spent his Presidency blaming Bush, Biden will do the same with Trump.