US detects first case of COVID-19 variant as Biden offers gloomy vaccine outlook
- 3 years ago
The first known US case of a highly infectious coronavirus variant discovered in Britain was detected in Colorado on Tuesday as US President-elect Joe Biden warned it could take years for most Americans to be vaccinated against COVID-19 at current distribution rates.
Biden's prediction of a grim winter appeared aimed at lowering public expectations that the pandemic would be over soon after he takes office on Jan. 20, while putting Congress on notice that he wants to significantly increase spending to expedite vaccine distribution, expand COVID testing and help reopen shuttered schools.
Biden, said about 2 million people have received the initial dose of one of two newly approved two-dose vaccines, well short of the 20 million that outgoing US President Donald Trump had promised by year's end.
Biden's prediction of a grim winter appeared aimed at lowering public expectations that the pandemic would be over soon after he takes office on Jan. 20, while putting Congress on notice that he wants to significantly increase spending to expedite vaccine distribution, expand COVID testing and help reopen shuttered schools.
Biden, said about 2 million people have received the initial dose of one of two newly approved two-dose vaccines, well short of the 20 million that outgoing US President Donald Trump had promised by year's end.