Biden announces all US adults eligible for Covid-19 vaccine

WASHINGTON (AFP) - All adults across America will be eligible for Covid-19 vaccines within two weeks, President Joe Biden announced Tuesday, as economic powerhouse California set a June 15 target to fully reopen businesses.

The positive news from the United States — which has reported the most coronavirus deaths of any country but is now a leader in vaccine distribution — contrasted with a record daily toll in Brazil and Europe’s troubled rollout of the AstraZeneca shot.

Biden announced in a White House speech that he is moving up the deadline for all over 18s to be eligible for vaccines to April 19. The previous target had been May 1.

“Our vaccine program is in overdrive. We’re making it easier to get a vaccination shot,” Biden told the nation. “We’re the first country to administer 150 million shots and the first country to fully vaccinate over 62 million people.”

Biden’s April 19 deadline means ending restrictions by age, health issues, or other categories for people wanting to get vaccinated.

It would not necessarily mean that anyone could get a shot immediately, as distribution remains a work in progress.

Visiting a vaccination site in Virginia earlier, Biden said that while the worst of the pandemic is “not over yet,” vaccines mean it soon could be.

California to reopen

The news comes as California Governor Gavin Newsom said the state will fully reopen by June 15 if the current rate of vaccinations continues, lifting all Covid-related restrictions on businesses and gatherings.

“We’ll be getting rid of the blueprint, as you know it today. That’s on June 15 if we continue the good work,” said Newsom, adding that mask-wearing requirements would remain.

Some 556,000 Americans have died from Covid-19, by far the highest toll reported in any country.

On Tuesday the Johns Hopkins University tracker reported 68,643 new confirmed cases and 1,105 deaths, as concern grows that people may be letting down their guard.

The International Monetary Fund meanwhile said accelerated vaccines and a flood of government stimulus spending, especially in the United States, meant it now predicts global economic growth this year of 6%, up from a forecast of 5.5 percent in January.

This would be a swift reversal of the 3.3 percent contraction in 2020 caused by the Covid-19 pandemic — the worst peacetime downturn since the Great Depression nearly a century ago.

Focus on vaccines

The pandemic has now killed more than 2.8 million people worldwide, upended economies and lifestyles everywhere and puts huge pressure on health care systems.

And on a global scale, it has not yet abated, despite more than 660 million shots having been administered worldwide.

In an annual report, Wednesday Amnesty International said that richer countries are failing a “rudimentary” test of global solidarity by hoarding Covid vaccines, “leaving countries with the fewest resources to face the worst health and human rights outcomes.”