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On Thursday, US President Joe Biden has introduced a new national COVID-19 strategy. He warned Americans about the toughest and deadliest period of the virus in the United States. Biden also signed 10 pandemic-related executive orders. These orders are designed at jump-starting his national COVID-19 strategy to enhance vaccinations, testing, and lay the groundwork for reopening schools and businesses. President Biden said that the rollout has been a dismal failure thus far. He said, “I understand why Americans are frustrated. Let me be very clear, things will get worse before they get better”. The President also mandated mask-wearing at federal buildings and on interstate travel such as planes, trains, and buses. He added, “This is a wartime undertaking. We’ll move heaven and earth to get more people vaccinated for free. Yesterday, we directed FEMA to start establishing community-supported vaccination centers”.

The Press Secretary of White House, Jen Psaki said at a Thursday briefing that the crisis is dire and it requires immediate action. President Biden said vaccines will also be available in local pharmacies. He tasked the Department of Health and Human Services to expand the pool of professionals to administer the vaccine in an effort to meet his target of 100 million shots promised in his first 100 days in office. President Biden said that every moving forward state will have a point person at the federal level to maximize communication between state and federal. Psaki said, “Our priority and focus is to provide more engagement with states from the federal level. That communication has been lacking so we will focus on improving that in the months ahead”.

President Biden has also given government agencies a green light to use a Cold War-era law called “the Defense Production Act”, to direct manufacturing. Point to be noted that Democratic Party holds narrow majorities in the House and Senate. The legislation will likely need bipartisan support to pass the $1.9 trillion economic relief and COVID-19 response package. Some Republicans have raised questions about sending out more direct payments on the heels of last month’s enactment of a coronavirus aid bill. On Thursday, the US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the House of Representatives is looking to bring a coronavirus relief bill to a vote in the first week of February 2021. At least $400 billion would go directly to combating the pandemic under Biden’s COVID-19 relief bill proposal.