The President directed all states to open vaccine eligibility up to all adults by May 1.

[Mik]

Not to mention he has no authority to do so.

[George K]

@mik said in The President directed all states to open vaccine eligibility up to all adults by May 1.:

Not to mention he has no authority to do so.

[LuFins Dad]

Ehhh, I think he does, but not the way he did...

The vaccines were all purchased by Federal agencies falling underneath his Executive Authority.

[Jolly]

@mik said in The President directed all states to open vaccine eligibility up to all adults by May 1.:

Not to mention he has no authority to do so.

I agree.

[89th]

Weird map, in Minnesota it's open to all already (or in the next few days).

[brenda]

@89th This coming Monday it will be, so appointments are probably being made.

[Copper]

@mik said in The President directed all states to open vaccine eligibility up to all adults by May 1.:

Not to mention he has no authority to do so.

Yes, the president is not the boss of everything in the whole country.

But this pandemic pushed the office a little further in that direction.

[LuFins Dad]

He doesn’t have the authority, but he does have the power. Let’s face it, the Federal Government bought and own the vaccines. It is stupid as hell, but he can twist the states arms on this.

The only two states likely to stand up to him are Texas and Florida, though.

[Mik]

What's he going to do? "Either open it up or no vaccines for you"? That would sure play well for unity.

[LuFins Dad]

@mik said in The President directed all states to open vaccine eligibility up to all adults by May 1.:

What's he going to do? "Either open it up or no vaccines for you"? That would sure play well for unity.

As I said, stupid as hell. Still not seeing any state challenge him on it, though.

[Mik]

Like he has been doing from the beginning, he wants to be able to claim credit for things that were already happening without him.

[Jolly]

@mik said in The President directed all states to open vaccine eligibility up to all adults by May 1.:

What's he going to do? "Either open it up or no vaccines for you"? That would sure play well for unity.

All hat, no cattle.

It's all talk. He's not going to do anything.

[Mik]

What can he do? Provide supply and throw money around. That's it. If he even tried to strongarm the states he'd get crucified. This is where Trump was correct, even though he was criticized for not establishing national rules.

[Axtremus]

Thinking about the math a little bit ...

Suppose we deliver 200MM doses into people's arms by the 100th day of this new administration, that's roughly 100 million Americans fully vaccinated. Chances are there would be more because the single-dose vaccines are increasingly being used more.

The "100th day" brings us to April 30. The "100 million Americans" figure is roughly the number of all Americans 55 and older. Take out the anti-vaxxers and you can conceivably push that line down to "50 and older."

Once you get to that 50~55 line, it is quite conceivable that you can open eligibility to "all adults."