US Presidential Election 2020: Joe Biden Promises Free COVID-19 Vaccine For All Americans If Elected
Joe Biden on Friday promised free vaccine against coronavirus (COVID-19) to all Americans if he is elected as US President.
Washington, October 24: Joe Biden, former US vice president and current Democratic presidential nominee, on Friday promised free vaccine against coronavirus (COVID-19) to all Americans if he is elected as President. Joe Biden made the promise of free COVID-19 vaccine while speaking in Wilmington in his home state of Delaware just 11 days before the US presidential election on November 3. US Elections 2020: 20% Polling Completed, Over 50 Million Americans Have 'Voted Early', Says Monitor.
"Once we have a safe and effective vaccine, it has to be free to everyone -- whether or not you're insured," Biden said. If elected, he added, he would direct the federal government to "bulk-purchase as many doses as necessary of the COVID-19 vaccine so we can provide it free to those who are uninsured, under-insured or Medicaid-eligible." US Presidential Final Debate 2020: Mute Button Brings Civility as Donald Trump, Joe Biden Show Restraint During Last Debate.
Trump has also stressed that a vaccine, which according to him will be ready in the coming weeks, should be free. As he revealed his strategy to combat the coronavirus crisis, Biden slammed US President Donald Trump, saying the Republican leader has "given up" fighting the virus and has "quit on America." In the final presidential debate, Trump had indicated that the US was overcoming the pandemic.
However, Biden said Americans are not learning to live with COVID-19, but learning to die with it as the pandemic has dwarfed anything that the country faced in recent history and is not showing any signs of slowing down. "President Trump said we're rounding the corner, it's going away, we're learning to live with it. They are quotes. But as I told him last night, we're not learning to live with it. We're learning to die with it. This is a dark winter ahead," he said.
"Already more than 220,000 people in the US have lost their lives to this virus. Worse yet, a new study from Columbia University suggests that anywhere between 130,000 and 210,000 of those deaths were avoidable," Biden said. Alleging that Trump does not have a plan to fight the coronavirus, the Democratic leader said the longer he is the President, the "more reckless" he gets.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 24, 2020 08:59 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).