President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that his administration had met his goal of administering 100 million coronavirus vaccine shots within his first 100 days in office ahead of schedule, with the goal reached on Friday.
"When I announced in early December that I had a goal that I set of administering 100 million shots for the virus in the first 100 days of our office--100 million shots in 100 days--it was considered ambitious," Biden stated in remarks from the White House on Thursday. "Some even suggested it was somewhat audacious. Experts said that it was a--the plan was, quote, 'definitely aggressive,' and distribution would have to be 'seamless' for us to be successful."
Biden stated that he is proud to announce that he has met that goal 58 days into his administration, stating that it was do to putting the federal government on a "war footing" after he took office.
The goal was set on Dec. 8, days before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had authorized the Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)-BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) vaccine for emergency use, and well before the U.S. had approved Moderna's (NASDAQ: MRNA) and Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE: JNJ) vaccines. When Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, the U.S. had already administered about 20 million shots at an average rate of 1 million per day.
Now the U.S. is inoculating at an average of roughly 2.2 million doses per day, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The pace is likely to keep accelerating as more vaccines are delivered from manufacturers and the nation continues to invest in its distribution infrastructure.
"But I've always said: That's just the floor," Biden added. "We will not stop until we beat this pandemic. Next week, I will announce our next goal to put shots in arms."
With the once "ambitious" goal being met well ahead of schedule, the Biden administration confirmed a Reuters report on Thursday that stated that the nation will supply 4 million vaccines from its supply of AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN)-Oxford shots to Canada and Mexico.
"Our first priority remains vaccinating the U.S. population," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during a press briefing in response to a question about the validity of the Reuters report on Thursday. "The reality is that the pandemic knows no borders. And ensuring our neighbors can contain the virus is a mission-critical step to ending the pandemic."
According to the Reuters report, Mexico will receive 2.5 million doses of the vaccine, while Canada will receive the remaining 1.5 million.
The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has not yet been authorized for use in the U.S., but is has been by the World Health Organization for member nations.