YEAR-END REVIEW: THE BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION’S SUCCESSES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 14, 2021
PRESS CONTACT: [email protected]

YEAR-END REVIEW: THE BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION’S SUCCESSES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19

As the end of 2021 approaches, look-back at Biden-Harris Administration’s progress combatting COVID-19 spotlights the most effective vaccination program in history 

 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The President has made beating the pandemic and building a strong economic recovery his top priority. Thanks to President Biden’s decisive actions and steady leadership, since taking office in January, millions of Americans have received vaccine shots and relief checks, businesses have gotten the support to stay afloat, and schools have re-opened their doors. This enormous progress has come after the President inherited a flatlining economy, a pandemic continuing to ravage the country, and an anemic testing and vaccination program that left American families looking for leadership, effectiveness, and trusted experience.

Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans have fought against the Administration’s efforts to re-open our economy and get Americans vaccinated every step of the way, including uniformly opposing the American Rescue Plan. And now, they’re opposing the President’s plans to lower the cost of living for working and middle class families in the Build Back Better Act.

President Biden has executed the most effective vaccination program in history to protect Americans from COVID-19 and get the economy moving again:

• Under the Biden-Harris Administration, over 468 million COVID vaccine shots have been administered.
  • Less than one percent of Americans were fully vaccinated when President Biden took office.
• Over 72 percent of Americans have received at least one dose, and 60 percent of Americans — over 200 million people — are fully vaccinated, including 87 percent of seniors.
• After the COVID vaccine was authorized for children ages 5-11 in October, President Biden has already secured enough vaccine doses for every one of those children and has made doses available at approximately 20,000 locations around the country.
  • In just ten days, 10 percent of all kids ages 5-11 — 2.6 million total — received their first vaccine dose.
  • Over 5 million kids ages 5-11 have received their first vaccine dose.
• And since the FDA expanded eligibility for boosters to include all adults on November 19, over 53 million Americans and 55% of seniors have received a booster shot.

President Biden took immediate and aggressive action to help workers and businesses get back on their feet, including passing the American Rescue Plan — which was uniformly opposed by Republicans in Congress:
 

• President Biden got direct relief into the hands of millions of Americans:
  • 171 million stimulus checks of up to $1,400 were delivered to Americans.
  • Monthly checks of up to $300 per child to roughly 35 million households through the expanded Child Tax Credit, which is projected to cut child poverty nearly in half.
  • An expanded earned income tax credit to include more workers and provide nearly three times the previous benefit amount, assisting over 17 million workers.
• Billions of dollars in aid were delivered to help businesses and workers stay afloat and safely re-open, and now businesses are opening at a record pace:
• New business are opening at a record pace:
  • The Economist: New business formation in America goes bezonkers
  • The Guardian: Start me up: 2021 is on course to be a record year for new businesses
  • Axios: The small business boom
• $28.6 billion was provided to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund to help restaurants hit hard by the pandemic, including $7.5 billion in funding distributed to women-owned businesses, $6.7 billion to economically disadvantaged-owned businesses, and $1 billion to veteran-owned businesses.
  • This funding benefitted over 100,000 businesses throughout the country.
• $15 billion was provided to businesses in under-served communities via the Economic Injury Disaster Loan grants program.
• $7.25 billion in additional funds for the Paycheck Protection Program to help businesses keep workers on payroll.

• Nearly 13,000 grants to live venues, theaters, and other entertainment and cultural hubs through the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program.

As a result of the President’s fight against the pandemic, schools have been able to safely re-open and millions of children have returned to in-person instruction and reducing the burden on parents:
 

• 99% of students — nearly 45 million children — and 99% of school districts have returned to in-person instruction.

• $122 billion in American Rescue Plan funding — along with additional state and local relief — was allocated to address the impacts COVID had on pre-K through 12 education to ensure schools were able to re-open safely and effectively this year.
  • This included improving ventilation systems, purchasing PPE, hiring more staff, reducing class sizes for social distancing, and more.

• $10 billion in American Rescue Plan funding was provided to support COVID screening tests for teachers, staff, and students.

Thanks to President Biden’s continued fight against the pandemic, we’ve seen the jump-starting of a historic economic recovery from a pandemic-induced crisis:

• More than 5,800,000 jobs have been created since President Biden took office.
• The unemployment rate has dropped from 6.3 percent when President Biden took office to 4.2 percent — falling at the fastest rate in 50 years. Economists projected it would take us until the end of 2023 to reach this level.
  • The unemployment rate for Black Americans has fallen from 9.2 percent in January to 6.7 percent in November.
  • The unemployment rate for Hispanic Americans has fallen from 8.6 percent in January to 5.2 percent in November.
  • The unemployment rate for Asian Americans has fallen from 6.6 percent in January to 3.8 percent in November.
• Weekly jobless claims are down over 70 percent since President Biden took office — from over 800,000 to 184,000.
• In fact, on average, Americans have $100 more in their pockets each month than they did last year, even after accounting for inflation. 

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