“When President Biden took office, millions were unemployed and no vaccine was available,” the tweet said.
The White House could accurately say that vaccine availability was limited when Biden took office. It was not until April 2021, about three months after Biden’s presidency, that all adults in each state were eligible for the vaccine. Early deployment states usually limit the vaccine to healthcare professionals and other key workers, residents of long-term care facilities and the elderly. At the time Biden was discovered, it was often difficult, even for people in the eligible groups, to arrange a meeting.
But to say that “there was no vaccine available” at the time he took office, that goes too far – is a mistake, as if the whole vaccine implementation started with Biden.
And while this fact check focuses on the tweet’s claim about the availability of vaccines, it’s worth looking briefly at the economic claims.
Biden is free to advertise the big drop in unemployment during his term – it fell from 6.4% in January 2021 to 3.6% in April 2022 – but, as usual, the role of the president in improvement is a matter of debate. And while the tweet says that “when President Biden took office, millions were unemployed,” there are still millions of unemployed today, despite the improved job situation. There were about 5.9 million unemployed in April 2022, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Biden made more accurate statements
Biden himself made more accurate statements about the progress of vaccination during his presidency. He has repeatedly said, including at least three times this month alone, that there were only 2 million people fully vaccinated at the time he took office, compared to 220 million people fully vaccinated today. Although the actual number of fully vaccinated people at the time he took office was more than 3 million – Biden may have relied on preliminary initial estimates that the number is around 2 million – Biden’s figure of “2 million” is certainly very high. closer to the truth than the White House’s tweeted statement that “there is no vaccine available.” Biden also said in a speech in April 2021 that 8 percent of people over the age of 65 received the vaccine at the time he (He notes that this figure has risen to 75 percent since then.)
The White House declined to comment Friday.
Add Comment