Joe Biden says everyone will be vaccine eligible April 19

The President of the United States announced on Tuesday (April 6) that all adults will be eligible to receive the vaccine by April 19. "We're still in a life and death race against this virus", Biden said.

"No more confusing rules, no more confusing restrictions", he said from the White House, bumping up the original promised date of May 1 by nearly two weeks.

"That doesn't mean they will get it that day, that means they can join the line that day if they have not already done that beforehand", Psaki said.

"That's the way to beat this", Biden said.

Throughout the Washington region, many doses have been reserved for hard-to-reach and vulnerable patients while others who were willing to get inoculated immediately found themselves unable to get vaccinated.

More than 150 million shots have been administered in the United States, according to the White House, which states that "nearly a third of the total USA population and about 40% of the adult population has received at least one dose, and almost one-fifth of the total population is fully vaccinated" with one of the three vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. However, both Moderna and Pfizer produced two-dose shots as part of the program that began getting distributed in December, although Trump fell short of his goal of 20 million vaccinations distributed by the end of 2020.

The new deadline is two weeks ahead of Biden's previous deadline.

The Washington Post called Trump's claim in September "without evidence", and CNN reported, "Trump says every American can get a coronavirus vaccine by April, but health experts say that's not likely".

At least a dozen states opened eligibility to anyone 16 and older on Monday alone, while New Jersey and OR announced this week that all residents 16 and older will become eligible on April 19.

The new eligibility date in two weeks will give all adults a chance then to schedule appointments for their shots at community health centers, pharmacies, drive-through vaccination sites in parking lots and elsewhere.

"By April every single American who wants to be vaccinated will have the ability to be vaccinated", Atlas said. "There are going to be more people waiting".

The country is averaging 3.1 million shots per day over a 7-day period, White House officials said on Monday, and reached a new milestone over the weekend with an unprecedented 4 million vaccinations recorded in one day.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, issued an order Tuesday forbidding state agencies or any entity receiving public money from requiring vaccine passports. In the weeks since, the unaccounted for states - New York, Wyoming, South Carolina and Arkansas - have all opened vaccines to the general public.