Washington | US President Joe Biden has announced sweeping new vaccine requirements, as part of a new action plan to stem the rise in cases of the highly infectious Delta variant, which could affect nearly 100 million Americans. “Since I took office, America is in a much better position than it was seven months ago. Let me tell you a second fact, we are in tough times and this will be for some time,” Biden said at the White House on Thursday.
The US President has taken a six-point initiative to promote vaccination, improve access to testing and make COVID-19 treatments more widely available, Xinhua news agency reported.
He blamed the remaining 25 percent of eligible Americans, some 80 million people who have yet to be vaccinated despite months of availability and encouragement.
He said, “We are patient. But our patience is getting weaker and we all have to pay the price for your refusal.”
As of Thursday, 53.4 percent of the US population was fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the Johns Hopkins University data, as of Thursday afternoon, the number of Covid-19 cases in the country stood at over 4.05 crore, with more than 654,000 deaths.
