FactChecking Biden’s Prime-Time Address

In his remarks to the nation after signing the latest COVID-19 relief legislation, President Joe Biden stretched the facts, particularly when boasting of the increase in vaccinations on his watch.

Biden spoke on March 11, marking a year since the nation began widespread shutdowns to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

Vaccine Supply

Biden was technically correct but left a misleading impression when he said: “Two months ago, this country didn’t have nearly enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all or ever near all of the American public, but soon we will.”

As we’ve written before, while the Biden administration has increased vaccine orders from the companies with authorized vaccines, the Trump administration had contracts in place for plenty of vaccines for all Americans — provided other vaccines gained authorizations. And Biden’s predecessor also had options to increase orders from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, the first two vaccines to get Food and Drug Administration authorization.