Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, is hopeful President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to distribute 100 million vaccines in 100 days could work. Still, he is also concerned demand could prove to be a problem.
“I think they will hit that 100 million mark. I think the issue’s going to become demand. I think they’re going to have the supply in place and the distribution in place to do that,” Gottlieb said during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
He added, “Right now 30 million doses have been shipped to the states. About another 15 [million] will be made available to the states as of this Tuesday and 5 million have been ordered by the states, but not yet shipped. So that’s a total of 50 million doses.”
Gottlieb said Biden’s plan he put out “makes a lot of sense” and called it an “all of the above approach.”
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.@ScottGottliebMD predicts @JoeBiden's administration’s ambitious plan to push out 100 million vaccines in 100 days may succeed.
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 17, 2021
“I think they will hit that 100 million mark,” but he urges that demand could become an issue. pic.twitter.com/SFMNWbFBpY
While delivering remarks in Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday, Biden said he would ramp up production of syringes and other supplies to speed up vaccinations, as IJR previously reported.
Biden’s plan includes provisions for federal disaster-relief workers to set up vaccination centers where groups who do not currently qualify can receive the vaccine.
According to his transition team, he would also utilize the Defense Production Act to create more equipment to distribute vaccines.
“This is a time to set big goals and pursue them with courage and conviction because the health of the nation is literally at stake,” Biden said.
The former vice president also unveiled his $1.9 trillion stimulus package, as IJR previously reported.
He received harsh criticism from Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).
“Blasting out another $2 trillion in borrowed or printed money – when the ink on December’s $1 trillion aid bill is barely dry, and much of the money is not yet spent – would be a colossal waste and economically harmful,” Toomey said in a statement on Friday.
