TIL Desk/World/Washington/ United States President Joe Biden has announced that all Americans will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination by May 1 with an aim to get the country, worst-hit by the pandemic, closer to normal by July 4th, Independence Day. In his first prime-time address to the nation on Thursday since assuming office in January, Biden also announced the deployment of more than 4,000 active-duty troops to support vaccination efforts, bringing the total to over 6,000.
His speech comes a year to the day the outbreak was classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation. Laying out new steps in the school reopening effort, Biden in his speech that lasted for a little over 20 minutes, said his administration will continue to take steps to combat the spread of variants including expanding testing and genomic sequencing.
“My fellow Americans, you are owed nothing less than the truth. And for all of you asking when things will get back to normal, here is the truth: the only way to get our lives back, to get our economy back on track is to beat the virus you have been hearing me say that for– while I was running and the last 50 days I have been President, but this is one of the most complex operations we have ever undertaken as a nation in a long time,” Biden said.