Almost a year ago, the rampant appearance of a new coronavirus led to an initial two-week lockdown, which then turned into months and is now one year old. The life we knew has not returned. What everyone wants to know is when that lost normality will be seen.
“As my mother would say, with the grace of God and the goodwill of the neighbors, for next Christmas I think we can be in very different circumstances than we are today, God willing,” announced President Joe Biden on television from Milwaukee (Wisconsin).
This is how he answered the question on everyone’s lips, even if it came from the journalist Anderson Cooper, who moderated his first public act with questions from citizens. Biden’s response did not resemble the promise of Donald Trump, who at this time last year anticipated that the virus would disappear “as if by magic” by Easter. The new president is based on science, which he has signed with a checkbook to produce enough vaccines so that by the end of July all Americans who wish can be vaccinated.
On that date, the government expects to have 600 million doses, enough to immunize the 330 million Americans who want it. This will allow that “within a year people have to be at a significantly closer distance and less mask”, even if it matters that they continue to use it. “I do not want to promise more,” the president restrained.
During the transition, Biden promised one million daily vaccinations, but the country is already providing 1.7 million per day. As of April Pfizer and Moderna have promised to provide three million a day, so the government’s next challenge is to have enough medical personnel to inject them. For that it has recruited from pharmaceutical chains to stadiums that operate 24 hours a day.
The exit from the pandemic involves the reopening of all schools in the summer “as if it were another semester,” he warned, “to make up for lost time.” His promise is to advance teachers on the list of the population eligible for the vaccine, convinced that they are the key to that return to normalcy. “The goal will be (to go to class) five days a week,” he promised. For that, the president needs Congress to approve the economic stimulus package that he has requested for a value of 1.9 billion dollars and that the lower house will vote next week.
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