Biden pledges 100 million vaccines in first 100 days of presidency — if Trump cooperates

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Joe Biden has told Americans he will be able to oversee the delivery of 100 million coronavirus vaccinations in his first 100 days as president, but only if the Trump administration cooperates.

In the speech on Tuesday, Mr Biden outlined his immediate plans for his first term in office, including the reopening of most of the nation's schools and a new mask mandate.

“Masking, vaccination, opening schools: these are the three key goals for my first 100 days,” he said.

The president-elect vowed to the country the administration would “be able to get at least 100 million vaccinations done in my first 100 days”.

However, he stipulated this could only be carried through with cooperation from the Trump administration during the transition period.

“We also need the Trump administration to act now though to purchase the doses it has negotiated with Pfizer and Moderna and to work swiftly to scale manufacturing to US populations and the world,” Mr Biden said.

The announcement of key aims came amid Mr Biden’s nomination of key members to his administration's health team.

The president-elect announced California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as his nomination for health secretary and Rochelle Walensky as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Mr Trump celebrated the expected approval of the first US vaccine, branding it a “miracle” while praising his administration’s effort to produce and distribute the shot.

On Tuesday, the US Food and Drug Administration made research data public for the first time that showed the vaccine was found to be strongly protective against Covid-19, making the approval of the shot seem likely and imminent.

If approved, the first recipients of the vaccine would be health care workers and nursing home residents, according to plans laid out by each state.

More than 15 million Americans have been infected with Covid-19 since the pandemic gripped the US in March, leading to the deaths of over 286,000 people.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press