LIVE: Biden to Announce April 19 Deadline to Make All Adults Eligible for Covid Vaccine

(Apr. 6) President Joe Biden will announce Tuesday that he wants all American adults to be eligible for a coronavirus vaccine by April 19, a White House official said, citing a target date all but two states are already set to meet.

Biden will also announce that 150 million doses of vaccine were administered within his first 75 days in office, keeping pace with his accelerated goal of getting 200 million shots into arms by his 100th day in office.

By April 19, every state but Oregon and Hawaii are scheduled to have opened up vaccines to every non-minor. Those two states are currently set to meet that target May 1, Biden’s previous goal for every U.S. adult to become eligible.

Almost half of U.S. states had opened vaccination to everyone 16 and older by the end of last week. That will rise to 36 by the end of this week. CNN reported that Biden is expected to credit governors’ effort to meet his earlier deadline for the updated goal.

Biden’s administration has been racing to put shots in arms before infection rates spike again, as fresh variants of the virus that are more easily transmitted -- and possibly more harmful once caught -- spread throughout the U.S. One variant, known as B.1.1.7 and originally found in the U.K., is now the dominant variant in regions holding two-thirds of the U.S. population.

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned of “impending doom” as cases have begun to rise again, fueled in part by states lifting some or all of their restrictions.

Anthony Fauci, a Biden medical adviser, said Tuesday that cases are increasing but don’t yet amount to a full new surge.

“There clearly is an increase,” Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told MSNBC on Tuesday. “The difference factor that’s going on right now, that were different from the surges that we saw last year, is that we have a highly efficacious vaccine now.”

On Tuesday, the president will visit a vaccination site in Alexandria, Virginia, and then speak on the issue at the White House. Nationwide, vaccinations hit a seven-day average of more than 3 million a day last weekend, and the country logged a 4-million-shot Saturday.

More than 100 million Americans have gotten at least one dose, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, close to a third of the population. The daily rates are expected to rise further as vaccine-makers deliver a promised 700 million doses by the end of July, which is enough for 400 million people.

The U.S. has administered about a quarter of the shots given worldwide so far, buoyed by wartime powers that have allowed Biden and his predecessor to force U.S. vaccine makers to fill their orders first. About 62 million people in the U.S. have been fully vaccinated so far, including 30 million people over age 65, which accounts for 55% of that age group.

Fauci was asked about images from Texas, a state that has opened restrictions and where a baseball stadium appeared full on Monday night.

“We don’t want to declare victory prematurely because we have a virus out there now that’s variant and spreads really quite efficiently,” he said. “And if you pull back on masking and avoiding congregate setting, you’re really taking a pretty big risk.”

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world.

To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit  or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app.

Connect with us on…

Breaking News on YouTube