On December 8 2020, President-elect Joe Biden made a promise to the American people to administer 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in his first 100 days in office. According to an announcement from the president on Thursday, the country will make the mark with 32 days to spare.
“Before I took office,” wrote Biden on Twitter. “I set an ambitious goal of administering 100 million shots in my first 100 days as president.”
He continued, “I’m proud to say that we’ll reach that goal tomorrow, just 58 days in.”
Before I took office, I set an ambitious goal of administering 100 million shots in my first 100 days as president.
I’m proud to say that we’ll reach that goal tomorrow, just 58 days in.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 19, 2021
While former President Donald Trump truly deserves credit for the, well, warp speed at which the vaccines were developed, from the time the first vaccines were administered on December 14 until the day Trump left office on January 20, there were just over 21 million shots administered. Biden did roughly five times that in less than two months.
Earlier this week, Biden spoke with ABC about the country’s vaccination effort and about the reluctance of some Americans to be vaccinated.
“I honest to God thought that once we guaranteed we had enough vaccine for everybody, things would start to calm down,” Biden said. “Well, they have calmed down a great deal. But … I just don’t understand this sort of macho thing about, ‘I’m not gonna get the vaccine. I have a right as an American, my freedom to not do it.’ Well, why don’t you be a patriot? Protect other people.”
Asked how things had changed for him since he got the vaccine, Biden said, “I can hug my grandkids now.”