Kamala Harris says ‘we are doing it, we are doing it’ when grilled on why the Biden administration didn’t send out 500 million free COVID tests sooner and she ‘THINKS’ deliveries will start next week
- The administration has announced plans to send 500 million tests to Americans
- It first made the announcement before Christmas amid the omicron surge
- First contracts were announced days ago
- Harris told NBC they were going out ‘shortly’
- She wouldn’t give specific information but said ‘they’ve been ordered’
- She said it would be ‘soon – absolutely soon’
Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday the administration would start sending out the first of 500 million home coronavirus test kits ‘soon’ – but offered no specifics as the administration tries to gets the program going.
‘Shortly – they’re going to go out shortly,’ Harris said when asked on NBC’s ‘Today’ show when the tests would finally start getting shipped to Americans.
‘They’ve been ordered. They’ve been ordered,’ she said. Interviewer Craig Melvin pushed her for more information. ‘I have to look at the current information. I think it’s going to be by next week. But soon. Absolutely soon. And it is a matter of urgency for us,’ she said.
‘Should we have done that sooner?’ Melvin asked her.
‘We are doing it,’ was Harris’ response.
‘They’re going to go out shortly,’ said Vice President Kamala Harris when asked when the first of 500 million home covid tests would start getting shipped
‘But should we have done it sooner,’ he pressed again.
‘We are doing it,’ Harris responded.
A White House official said Thursday that President Biden would announce Thursday that in addition to the 500 million tests ‘that we are in the process of acquiring, he is directing his team to procure 500 million more tests to meet future demand.’
Harris also rejected calls for a new approach to covid, and continued to press Americans who aren’t vaccinated to get their shots – following calls for change from a group of experts who served as Biden’s covid advisors before he took office.
‘Every day it is time for us to agree that there are things and tools that are available to us to slow this thing down,’ Harris said. ‘We are in the midst of a surge. That’s where we are right now. And so right now, we know we still have a number of people that, that is in the millions of Americans who have not been vaccinated, and could be vaccinated, and we are urging them to get vaccinated because it will save their life.’
People wait in a long line to get a COVID-19 test, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, in North Miami, Fla. The administration announced the plans to ship tests amid the omicron wave. Many schools adopted ‘test to return’ policies after the holidays
The administration says the U.S. Postal Service will deliver the tests to Americans who request them. But the administration says it won’t put up the web site until the tests are in hand.
DailyMail.com reported Wednesday that a company that got a $190 million contract for the tests doesn’t manufacture tests, and got into the business of personal protective equipment only at the start of the pandemic. Its first business offering was a vodka bottle equipped with special programmable LED lights and a bluetooth connection.
Another firm based in Texas is also warehousing tests, but not making them. It’s largest government contract came last year and was for just $1 million.
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