States Ordered to Make Vaccines Available to All Adults by May 1

As the world continues to stare intently toward the light at the end of the tunnel, now one year removed from the pandemic’s arrival here in the United States, there are plenty of powerful folks who are attempting to put the pedal to the metal.

Vaccine distribution has been a bit underwhelming, at least from where many of us are sitting.  Restrictions on who can get the virus when vary from state to state, with many Americans putting in some lengthy travel times just to be protected.

Furthermore, there has been a heated controversy brewing about just what qualifies someone to receive the jab before someone else.

The Biden administration is now trying to make it much simpler, but from on high.

In his first prime-time address as president Thursday night, Joe Biden directed all states to make all American adults eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines no later than May 1.

And if Americans “all do our part” in the coming weeks, friends and families will be able to join together in small groups in time for Fourth of July celebrations, the president said.

“July 4th with your loved ones is the goal,” Biden said, stressing that “a lot can happen. Conditions can change.”

Biden’s speech, clocking in at 24 minutes, came one year after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 breakout a pandemic, and hours after the president signed his $1.9 trillion stimulus package into law.

The timeline is a stark 30 day jump from the last time Biden made such a prediction, with an earlier arbitrary deadline for such widespread availability declared for June 1st.