Biden echoes Arizona nurse who called vaccinations ‘a dose of hope’

PHOENIX — Speaking ahead of vaccination milestone for his adminstration, President Joe Biden on Thursday cited the words of an Arizona nurse.

Biden recalled what he heard when he and Vice President Kamala Harris conducted a virtual tour of the State Farm Stadium mass vaccination site on Feb. 8.

“One of the nurses on that tour injecting people, giving vaccinations, said that each shot was like administering a dose of hope,” Biden said.  “A dose of hope, that’s how she phrased it.

“Behind these 100 million shots are millions of lives changed when people receive that dose of hope.”

The Glendale stadium, which is operated by the Arizona Department of Health Services, has has been a major driver for progress in Biden’s initiative of reaching 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office.

The site passed 500,000 doses given on Monday, about two months after it opened.

Biden announced that the U.S. is on the cusp of meeting his 100-day injection goal “way ahead of schedule.”

The 100 million dose goal was first announced on Dec. 8, days before the U.S. had even one authorized vaccine for COVID-19, let alone the three that have now received emergency authorization. Still, it was generally seen within reach, if optimistic.

By the time Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, the U.S. had already administered 20 million shots at a rate of about 1 million doses per day, bringing complaints at the time that Biden’s goal was not ambitious enough. He quickly revised it upward to 150 million doses in his first 100 days.

Now the U.S. is injecting an average of about 2.2 million doses each day — and the pace of vaccination is likely to dramatically rise later this month in conjunction with an expected surge in supply of the vaccines.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, injections of 96 million doses have been reported to the agency since Biden’s inauguration, but those reports lag the actual date of administration.

Vaccination trend lines pointed to Biden breaking the 100 million mark on Thursday, with the numbers likely to be confirmed by the CDC over the weekend.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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