Sen. Durbin says COVID vaccines could distribute faster under President Biden

Posted on January 28, 2021

By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – Under President Joe Biden, Coronavirus vaccines could be distributed faster, according to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

By the end of the summer, the White House reports a goal of vaccinating 300 million Americans; however, Senator Durbin said that’s a big goal that he hopes the new President can accomplish.

“We look now at the first week of the Biden Presidency, you expect him to change it and make it move, and it’s going too, I think it is. He’s certainly focused on it. What they are doing is buying more and trying to get more produced and distributing it.”

Senator Durbin told WJBC’s Scott Miller that the Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine rollout plan failed to communicate to governors around the nation and hurt the ability to plan.

“The earlier idea of (Operation Warp Speed) we wouldn’t tell the governors when it was coming, and they should distribute it didn’t work well. I talked to Gov. Pritzker about it, it just wasn’t being distributed, and our state was better than most. I’ve got a lot of friends who some were vaccinated yesterday, and some today and they are anxious to get it, and it’s starting to come.”

As part of his vaccine rollout plan, President Biden promised Americans 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days in office. A plan that Sen. Durbin said is ambitious.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the state is averaging around 36,000 vaccinations a day.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].

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