President Joe Biden on a trip to Texas touted the government’s emergency use recommendation of a new coronavirus vaccine, as he promised ‘even more rapid progress’ to protect the nation from the pandemic.
‘And we’ve all seen the news about Johnson & Johnson vaccine today just the third safe, effective vaccine and it’s out,’ Biden said after visits to Houston focused on storm recovery and pandemic response, speaking just hours after the new tool in the fight against the virus won approval.
‘They’ve approved it today. We’re going to use every conceivable way to expand manufacturing of the vaccine, the third vaccine, make even more rapid progress shots in people’s arms,’ he said at a mass vaccination site at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Government health experts have been lauding the vaccine for its ability to stave off serious illness and hospital visits caused by COVID-19 – plus its single-shot potency and ease of transport.
He spoke after a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel unanimously backed the J&J single-dose vaccine.
Speaking in a Republican state that Democrats have been seeking to pry away politically, Biden noted that he met with two top GOP officials, and urged a non-partisan response to penultimate issues.
‘There’s nothing partisan about this virus. It’s too long we’ve allowed the virus to divide us. I met today with Governor [Greg] Abbott, Senator [John] Cornyn – conservative Republicans. I’m a Democratic presidents, we disagree on plenty of things. Nothing wrong with that. But there are plenty of things we can work on together.’
”We’re not giving shots to Democrats or Republicans. I say it again we’re given shots to Americans,’ he said.
Biden earlier heard firsthand from Texans clobbered by this month’s brutal winter weather on Friday as he and his wife made their first trip to a major disaster area since he took office.
Biden was briefed by emergency officials and thanked workers for doing ‘God’s work.’
Biden and first lady Jill Biden took their first joint trip on the large 747 most often used as Air Force One Fridayfor the trip to Texas to tour areas impacted by a deadly winter storm.
With tens of thousands of Houston area residents still without safe water, local officials told Biden that many are struggling.
While he was briefed, Jill Biden joined an assembly line of volunteers packing boxes of quick oats, juice, and other food at the Houston Food Bank, where he arrived later.
The president’s first stop was the Harris County Emergency Operations Center for a briefing from acting FEMA Administrator Bob Fenton and state and local emergency management officials.
Texas was hit particularly hard by the Valentine’s weekend storm that battered multiple states. Unusually frigid conditions led to widespread power outages and frozen pipes that burst and flooded homes. Millions of residents lost heat and running water.
At least 40 people in Texas died as a result of the storm and, although the weather has returned to more normal temperatures, more than 1 million residents are still under orders to boil water before drinking it.
‘The president has made very clear to us that in crises like this, it is our duty to organize prompt and competent federal support to American citizens, and we have to ensure that bureaucracy and politics do not stand in the way,’ said Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall, who accompanied Biden to Houston.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks after touring a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) vaccination facility for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, U.S., February 26, 2021
Food bank visit: Joe Biden spoke to a child as he visited the Houston Food Bank as part of his visit to the disaster-hit city
Greeting: Joe Biden elbow bumps a volunteer at the giant Houston Food Bank, which has been distributing food in the wake of the storm, blackout and water disaster which hit Texas
‘God’s work.’ Joe Biden praised emergency workers as he met officials at the Harris County emergency operations center in Houston, Texas, accompanied by the state’s governor, Greg Abbott (left)
Rapport: Joe Biden and Greg Abbott shared a moment of humor at the emergency center controlling operations in Harris County, which includes Houston, the largest city in Texas and one of the worst-hit areas in the winter storm disaster
Testimony: Houston mayor Sylvester Turner briefed Joe Biden and Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, on the impact of the twin winter storms which caused mas blackouts, which in turn left millions without safe water
Picture time: Texas senator John Cornyn was in the emergency center when Joe Biden visited but junior Texas senator Ted Cruz was once again out of state, this time at CPAC in Florida
Inspection: Jill Biden accompanied her husband Joe as the couple toured the Houston Food Bank to thank volunteers
Meeting: Joe Biden met Houston mayor Sylvester Turner when he landed in Air Force One, while Jill Biden spoke to Texas Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia
Biden was joined at the operations center by Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. John Cornyn, both Republicans, four Democratic Houston-area members of Congress and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.
Sen. Ted Cruz, an ally of former President Donald Trump and one of a handful of GOP lawmakers who had objected to Congress certifying Biden´s victory, was in Florida addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Cruz, who has been criticized for taking his family to Cancun, Mexico, while millions of Texans shivered in unheated homes, later said the trip was a mistake, but he made light of the controversy on Friday. ‘Orlando is awesome,’ he said to laughs and hoots. ‘It´s not as nice as Cancun. But´s nice.’
At the peak of the storm, more than 1.4 million residents were without power and 3.5 million were under boil-water notices in the nation’s third largest county.
Before leaving Houston, Biden also planned to visit a mass coronavirus vaccination center at NRG Stadium that is run by the federal government. Biden on Thursday commemorated the 50 millionth COVID-19 vaccination since he took office, halfway toward his goal of 100 million shots by his 100th day in office. That celebration followed a moment of silence to mark the passage earlier this week of 500,000 U.S. deaths blamed on the disease.
Post-storm debate in Texas has centered on the state maintaining its own electrical grid and lack of storm preparation, including weatherization of key infrastructure. Some state officials initially blamed the blackouts on renewable energy even though Texas is a heavy user of fossil fuels like oil and gas.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on February 26, 2021 as they travel to Texas to visit a food bank and emergency operations center. It is the first lady’s first trip on the large 747 Air Force One
Salute: A Marine and three Air Force members see off the plane at Joint Base Andrews, Jill Biden’s first 747 flight as First Lady and Joe Biden’s second as president
Up in the air: Air Force One is wheels up for Houston on the first couple’s trip to the city ht by freezing storms which led to days-long blackouts and boil water orders
Arrival: Marine One and the decoy Marine helicopter come in to land at Joint Base Andrews with the Bidens on board
Arrival: Joe Biden salutes the Air Force officer greeting him and First Lady Jill Biden at Joint Base Andrews to escort them to Air Force One
Descent: Joe Biden holds First Lady Jill Biden’s hand as she comes down the steps of Marine One at Joint Base Andrews
Departure: The First Couple wave before boarding Air Force One. Jill Biden had previously flown once on the plane, when she and then President Obama took it to a community college event in Michigan in 2015
Red carpet: The Bidens walk up the stairs to Air Force One before their first flight together on it
Sherwood-Randall said it remains up to Texas on how to shore up its utilities.
‘Fundamentally the first decision has to be made by the state of Texas about what kind of energy system it wants to maintain, what kind of energy market it wants to maintain,’ she said.
The White House said Biden’s purpose in visiting was to support, not scold.
‘I expect that what he will do during this trip today is asking every single person he sees what do you need, how can I help you more,’ White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. ‘And what can we get more for you from the federal government.’
Biden has declared a major disaster in Texas and asked federal agencies to identify additional resources to aid the recovery. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has sent emergency generators, bottled water, ready-to-eat meals and blankets.
Galveston County Judge Mark Henry said in an interview that he didn’t know what more the federal government could do to help because the failures were at the state level. But Henry, a Republican who is the highest county official in the suburban Houston county, said that if Biden ‘thinks it’s important to visit, then come on down.’
Biden wanted to make the trip last week, but said at the time that he held back because he didn´t want his presence and entourage to detract from the recovery effort.
Houston also was the destination for Trump’s first presidential visit to a disaster area in 2017 after Hurricane Harvey caused catastrophic flooding that August.
Trump, who was not known for displays of empathy, did not meet with storm victims on the visit. He returned four days later and urged people who had relocated to a shelter to ‘have a good time.’
President Joe The first couple also plan to use the trip to once again urge Americans to get coronavirus vaccines, now that 50 million shots have already been delivered, with plans to visit a community vaccination site in Houston.
The president opted for a casual Friday outfit, sporting an open collar and loafers, while ditching the pinstripes that he has sported for power meetings in the Oval Office.
The first lady, who has previously traveled with the president aboard a smaller aircraft that also serves as Air Force One, wore a green Veronica Beard blazer that retails for $650.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk across the South Lawn to board Marine One at the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 26, 2021, for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and then on to Houston
Biden is taking his first trip as president to visit a state hit by disaster
Washington skyline: The Bidens walk out to Marine One with the Washington Monument in the background
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on February 26, 2021
Aides: Jill Biden’s advisor Anthony Bernal and White House deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon walk from Marine One to Air Force One
Leaving the White House: Joe Biden acknowledged waiting reporters as he walked out of the South Portico with ths First Lafy but did not speak to them
Salute to the Marine: Joe Biden salutes before boarding Marine One on the White House South Lawn
Ready to fly: Jill and Joe Biden climb into Marine One, with the First Lady greeting the pilots on the flight deck
Departure: The Bidens take the first leg of their journey to Texas, lifting off from the South Lawn and passing the Washington Monument on their way to Joint Base Andrews
The post-storm debate in Texas has centered on the state maintaining its own electrical grid and lack of storm preparation, including weatherization of key infrastructure. Some state officials initially blamed the blackouts on renewable energy even though Texas is a heavy user of fossil fuels like oil and gas.
The White House said Biden’s purpose in visiting would be to support, not scold.
‘The president doesn´t view the crisis and the millions of people who´ve been impacted by it as a Democratic or Republican issue,’ White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday. ‘He views it as an issue where he´s eager to get relief, to tap into all the resources in the federal government, to make sure the people of Texas know we’re thinking about them, we´re fighting for them and we´re going to continue working on this as they´re recovering.’
Psaki said policy discussions about better weatherization and preparation could come later, ‘but right now, we’re focused on getting relief to the people of the state.’
Biden has declared a major disaster in Texas and asked federal agencies to identify additional resources to aid the recovery. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has sent emergency generators, bottled water, ready-to-eat meals and blankets.
Galveston County Judge Mark Henry said in an interview that he didn’t know what more the federal government could do to help because the failures were at the state level. But Henry, a Republican who is the highest county official in the suburban Houston county, said that if Biden ‘thinks it’s important to visit, then come on down.’
Biden wanted to make the trip last week, but said at the time that he held back because he didn´t want his presence and entourage to detract from the recovery effort.
Biden, whose life has been marked by personal tragedy, is known for his ability to empathize with others and their suffering. His first wife and infant daughter were killed in a car collision in 1972. His son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46.
No Texas lawmakers were expected to hitch a ride home aboard Air Force One due to ‘limitations on space’ on the plane, Psaki said.
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