‘Based on Science, Not Politics’: Prez Biden Launches COVID Plan

Soon after the transition of power, the Biden government has released a 198-page plan to control to the coronavirus spread in the United States. The White House has said that the plan will be a fundamentally different approach from the Trump administration, and it will be driven by science, data, and public health — not politics.

So, what is Biden government’s elaborate COVID-19 action plan?

One of the crucial parts of COVID action plan is a national vaccination campaign. The campaign, as announced by the President, aims to achieve the goal of 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office.

As part of the plan, the new administration will increase the number of vaccination sites by creating federal community vaccination centres in stadiums, gymnasiums, and conference centres, staffed with thousands of additional workers. Biden said there should be 100 of those centres by next month.

Then the government will use the defence production to speed up the production of personal protective equipment and essential supplies needed for the vaccine production.

In order to check the spread of the virus, President Biden has signed an executive order on his first day in office, that requires people to wear masks in airports and on airplanes, trains, maritime vessels and the likes. This also mandates that international travellers will have to test negative for COVID-19 before they depart for the US and they should undergo quarantine upon arrival.

Similarly, two executive orders signed by the president will create a National Pandemic Testing Board to improve the US coronavirus testing capacity and a Covid-19 Health Equity Task Force to ensure a good pandemic response and recovery.

He has also signed an executive order to enhance the collection, production, sharing, and analysis of data on COVID-19 in the country.

While the steps to control the virus and vaccinate against it are on, Biden has asked the Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services to provide guidance for reopening and operating of schools, childcare providers, and institutions of higher education in the country.

As of Thursday afternoon, 24.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported in the United States, with 4,07,384 deaths.

(With inputs from CNN)

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