“Thanks to the progress we have made this past year, COVID-19 need no longer control our lives.”
Washington, DC – Today, President Biden delivered his first State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. During his speech, he discussed how his efforts have led America into a new chapter of the pandemic and addressed the progress we’ve made since he took office a year ago.
Thanks to the promises made and kept by President Biden, we now have access to no-cost COVID-19 tests and high quality masks, and hundreds of millions of Americans are vaccinated. 99% of schools are open, hospitals have the tools they need to keep patients healthy, and local health organizations have the necessary guidance for addressing COVID-19. Using the tools at our disposal, we now know people can feel safer as they live their lives.
In response, Coronavirus War Room Director Nicole Haley said the following:
“President Biden and his administration are getting Americans the tools they need to lead their lives while protecting themselves from COVID-19. Since President Biden took office, more than three in four Americans have received a vaccine, schools are open, and our economy has added more than six million jobs. Thanks to President Biden’s leadership, Americans can feel safe moving in their normal routines knowing the administration is focused on combating COVID-19 using common sense and reason.”
The State Of Our Union Today And When President Biden Took Office:
Vaccinations. President Biden’s science based approach to the pandemic inspired confidence in America’s COVID-19 vaccination program. Due to his leadership, vaccinations prevented more than one million deaths and more than 10 million COVID hospitalizations by November of 2021.
| January 20, 2021 | March 1, 2022 | |
| Americans with at least one shot | 10.5 million | 253.5 million |
| Fully vaccinated Americans | 1.6 million | 215.6 million |
| Boosted Americans | 0 | 94.2 million |
Schools. Thanks to funds from the ARP, schools had the tools necessary to stay open and mitigate risk, even during the Omicron surge.
| (Students Enrolled) | February 2021 | February 2022 |
| Remote | 43 percent | <1 percent |
| Hybrid | 21 percent | <1 percent |
| In-Person | 35 percent | More than 99 percent |
Jobs. The American economy is currently on track to recoup all of the jobs lost during the pandemic by the end of 2022. Without the ARP, it would have taken the U.S. an additional four years to recover economically.
| January 2021 | January 2022 | |
| Jobs Added | 49,000 | 467,000 |
Leading Us Out Of The Pandemic, Giving Americans the Tools They Need:
- Shots in Arms. 76 percent of Americans have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 65 percent are fully vaccinated. Over 94 million Americans have received a booster shot, providing the best protection against the omicron variant. The Biden Administration has made booster shots free and convenient at over 80,000 locations nationwide. Vaccines are our best tool to prevent severe sickness and death from all variants of Covid-19 and they have already prevented 1.1 million deaths and 10.3 million additional Covid hospitalizations.
- New Access To Therapeutic Drugs And High Quality Masks. On January 4, President Biden announced that the federal government doubled the U.S.’ order for Pfizer’s Covid-19 antiviral pill, Paxlovid, which has been shown to reduce hospitalizations and severe illness significantly, another vital tool for reducing suffering and bringing the pandemic to an end. Twenty million doses of Paxlovid continue to be delivered across the country, with the first shipments sent to hospitals on Christmas Eve. In the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history, the Biden administration distributed 400 million free, high-quality N95 masks at thousands of sites around the country.
- Increased Testing. Since taking office, the Biden administration has taken numerous steps to increase Americans’ access to vital Covid-19 testing, both at home and at testing sites around the country. There are more than 20,000 free testing sites around the country, including new federal sites deployed in response to the Omicron variant surge. Four times as many rapid tests are available for Americans to use at home than were available last summer, and the administration’s wildly successful distribution of half-billion rapid tests this winter provided four free tests to every American household upon request, in addition to an earlier rule requiring insurance companies to reimburse members for their purchase of rapid tests.
- Schools Open. Thanks to the efforts of the Biden administration to provide safe and effective vaccines for students, and funding for masks and ventilation in schools, nearly 100 percent of American students were back in the classroom full time in December 2021, up from under three-quarters at the end of last school year.
- Workers Back To Work. The Biden administration has presided over the largest one year drop in the unemployment rate in U.S. history, and the creation of more than six million jobs, the most of any first year president in history. Despite the devastating Omicron surge, the addition of 467,000 jobs in January served as a strong signal that the economy continues to move in the right direction under President Biden. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan and the success of the vaccination program, workers are able to go back to work more safely and confidently.