‘More people may die’: Biden cites need for Trump administration to share plans on combating pandemic
WILMINGTON, Delaware -- President-elect Joe Biden says the outgoing Trump administration’s failure to share specific plans on combating the coronavirus pandemic is stymying American businesses’ abilities to find ways to grow and survive in challenging circumstances.
He also said that more coronavirus deaths will be the consequence of refusing to share its vaccine distribution plans with his incoming administration. Biden said that “more people may die if you don’t coordinate.”
Biden said during a speech Monday that “the sooner we have access to the administration’s distribution plan, the sooner this transition will smoothly move forward.” Specifics that the administration has withheld, Biden said, like vaccine distribution, could help “small businesses and entrepreneurs that are the backbone of our communities but are teetering on the edge.”
Biden said a vaccine is vital to repairing nation’s economy, adding, “If we have to wait until Jan. 20 to start that planning, it puts us behind.” He said he understands Trump’s “reluctance” to admit defeat and share plans but calls it “a shame.”
Biden said he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris had an “encouraging” virtual meeting with nine leaders of some of the country’s largest labor unions like the AFL-CIO and corporations, including Microsoft and Target. Biden says the leaders “all agree that means rallying the country behind a national strategy with robust public health measures.”
In her remarks, Harris pledged to shore up the economy by “creating millions of good-paying union jobs.”
Harris said the road ahead “will not be easy.” She says she and Biden witnessed the economic devastation of the pandemic firsthand on the campaign trail.
