JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Vaccines, another round of stimulus payments and students getting back into the classroom.
Those were just a few of the topics President Joe Biden addressed in his first town hall as president.
He made some important claims, so News4Jax Consumer Investigator Lauren Verno put them through the News4Jax Trust Index.
After going through the entire transcript of President Biden’s town hall, we found two claims we wanted to run through the Trust Index.
President Biden started the night off with a new promise on the vaccine: 400 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will available to anyone who wants them by the end of May and 600 million by mid-summer.
“We have now, by the end of July, we’ll have over 600 million doses, enough to vaccinate every single American,” Biden said.
This is our first claim we’re putting to the Trust Index.
Can the President promise 600 million doses by the end of July?
Securing that many doses started with the Trump Administration. Before leaving office, President Trump secured 200 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
When President Biden officially entered office last month, he used the National Defense Act to get the equipment needed to produce and distribute more vaccines, which led to his administration securing an additional 400 million doses, which is guaranteed by the companies by the end of July.
So on the Trust Index, we are going to mark that statement as true.
We’ve reviewed information surrounding this topic and confirmed that It’s True.
Our next claim comes in response to a mother and her 8-year-old daughter asking about children getting the vaccine.
“The evidence so far is children aren’t the people most likely to get COVID, number one,” Biden said.
The CDC says fewer children have been sick with COVID-19 compared to adults. However, there have been more than two million confirmed cases in kids under 17.
On the Trust Index, we’re going to mark that statement as “Be Careful.”
While children are far less likely to get the virus, there still have been millions of recorded cases.
Biden went on to answer the question saying:
“Number two, you’re not likely to be able to be exposed to something and spread it to mommy or daddy. And it’s not likely mommy and daddy are able to spread it to you either.”
As for children and adults spreading the virus, the CDC says: “Children can be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, can get sick from COVID-19, and can spread the virus that causes COVID-19 to others. Children, like adults, who have COVID-19 but have no symptoms (”asymptomatic”) can still spread the virus to others.”
So, on the Trust Index, we are going to mark the specific claim that kids and parents can’t spread the virus to each other is “Not True,” according to the CDC.
After review, we've found this information is Not True.
Much of what the president laid out last night involves goals for his administration. To read the full transcript of the town hall, go to Newsweek.com.