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Biden to Discuss Coronavirus Response Efforts

VOA News

   U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are putting a
   large focus of their first full day in office on the federal
   government's response to the coronavirus.

   Biden is scheduled to speak Thursday about the administration's plans
   and to sign executive orders and other actions related to combating
   COVID-19.

   Both Biden and Harris are then due to be briefed by their coronavirus
   team, including information about the current state of vaccination
   programs being carried out throughout the country.

   Biden set a goal of boosting vaccinations at the start of his term to
   amass 100 million doses given in the first 100 days.

   Vaccinations in the United States began in mid-December with a focus on
   frontline health care workers and those living in long-term care
   facilities. As of Wednesday morning, 16.5 million doses had been
   administered, according to data from the Centers from Disease Control
   and Prevention. The two vaccines given emergency approval in the United
   States each require a two-shot regimen.

   Biden and his wife, Jill, along with Harris and her husband, Doug
   Emhoff, are starting Thursday by participating in a virtual
   Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service hosted by the Washington National
   Cathedral.

   Biden was sworn in Wednesday as the 46th U.S. president and called on
   Americans to unite in support of each other in what he called "a winter
   of peril and significant possibilities."

   At 78, Biden became the country's oldest leader after serving 36 years
   as a U.S. senator and eight as vice president. He took the presidential
   oath of office on the steps of the Capitol on a chilly, wind-swept day.

   Shortly before, Harris, a former senator from California, was sworn in
   as vice president, becoming the highest-ranking woman in the country's
   history. She is of Black and Indian heritage.

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