WILMINGTON (Delaware,US), Nov 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President-elect Joe Biden expressed frustration Monday about Donald Trump’s refusal so far to cooperate on the White House transition process, saying “more people may die” without immediate coordination on fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
“More people may die if we don’t coordinate” on issues like distributing Covid-19 vaccines to Americans as quickly as possible, Biden told reporters in Wilmington when asked what is the greatest threat from Trump’s obstruction of a smooth transfer of power.
“If we have to wait until (inauguration day) January 20 to start that planning, it puts us behind for a month, a month and a half,” Biden said. “And so it’s important that there be coordination now — now, or as rapidly as we can get that done.”
The remarks marked Biden’s toughest comments to date on Trump’s failure to acknowledge his election loss and cooperate with the incoming administration for a peaceful transfer of power.
“More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden told reporters during a news conference in Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden and his aides have emphasized the importance of being briefed on White House efforts to control the pandemic and distribute prospective vaccines.
The Trump administration is working on its own distribution plan, while Biden’s chief of staff indicated his transition team will proceed with their own planning separately because of the obstruction.
Biden called the vaccine distribution a “huge, huge undertaking,” and said that if his team has to wait until he takes office to dig into the government’s distribution plan, they’ll be “behind, over a month, month and a half.”
“So it’s important that it be done, that there be coordination now, now, as rapidly as we can get that done,” he said.
Before taking questions, the Democrat outlined his plans to alleviate inequality and boost the U.S. economy but said that any structural reforms depended first on reining in the pandemic and delivering more immediate relief..
“Once we shut down the virus and deliver economic relief to workers and businesses, then we can start to build back better than before,” he said.
Biden has vowed to spend trillions of dollars to reinvigorate U.S. manufacturing, expand health care coverage and combat climate change, among other priorities.
But his chief priority remains controlling the pandemic, which is surging to record levels and forcing state and local leaders to implement new rounds of restrictions on local businesses.
The president-elect has so far tried to sidestep difficult questions about whether he might support a short-term national lockdown to arrest the surge of coronavirus cases. Since defeating Trump, Biden has devoted most of his public remarks to encouraging Americans to wear masks and embrace social distancing measures.
Biden was asked Monday whether he would encourage leaders to look at potentially reinstating stay-at-home orders now that the pandemic is surging nationwide. He avoided answering directly and instead called on officials to embrace mask-wearing and criticized those who haven’t.
Before his Monday address, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris held virtual meetings with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, among others.
Biden and Harris were speaking at a particularly tricky time for economic policy. — NNN-AGENCIES
