Biden highlights vaccines as U.S. nears 100 million shots

WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden highlighted his administration's push to dramatically expand distribution of Covid-19 vaccines Thursday, with the nation on the cusp of meeting his goal of injecting 100 million doses in his first 100 days in office — on Day 58 of his presidency.

“I’m proud to announce that tomorrow, 58 days into our administration, we will have met our goal," Biden said. He promised to unveil a new vaccination target next week, as the U.S. is on pace to have enough of the three currently authorized vaccines to cover the entire adult population just 10 weeks from now.

From his first days in office, Biden has set clear — and achievable — metrics for success, whether it be vaccinations or school re-openings, as part of an apparent strategy of under-promising, then over-delivering. Aides believe that exceeding his goals breeds trust in government after the Trump administration's sometimes-fanciful rhetoric on the virus.

The 100 million dose goal was first announced on Dec. 8, days before the U.S. had even one authorized vaccine for Covid-19, let alone the three that have now received emergency authorization. Still, it was generally seen within reach, if optimistic.

By the time Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, the U.S. had already administered 20 million shots at a rate of about 1 million doses per day, sparking complaints at the time that Biden's goal was not ambitious enough. Biden quickly revised it upward to 150 million doses in his first 100 days.

Now the U.S. is injecting an average of about 2.2 million doses each day — and the pace of vaccination is likely to dramatically rise later this month in conjunction with an expected surge in supply of the vaccines.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, injections of 96 million doses have been reported to the agency since Biden’s inauguration, but those reports lag the actual date of administration. Vaccination trend lines point to Biden breaking the 100 million mark on Thursday, with the numbers likely to be confirmed by the CDC over the weekend.

Biden marked the occasion Thursday with a White House speech providing an update on the nation's vaccination efforts.

The president has moved to speed up deliveries of vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, as well as to expand the number of places to get shots and people can administer them, with a focus on increasing the nation's capacity to inject doses as supply constraints lift.

The risk in setting too rosy expectations is that an administration might become defined by its failure to meet them, such as in May 2020, when President Donald Trump said the nation had “prevailed” over the virus.

At the time, the country had seen about 80,000 deaths from the virus. This week, the U.S. death toll topped 538,000. Trump’s lax approach and lack of credibility also contributed to poor adherence to public safety rules among the American public.