U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy is praising President-elect Joe Biden”™s proposed Covid-19 relief plan for bringing organizational priorities to the rollout of the vaccination program.
The Connecticut Democrat, who is a member of the Senate”™s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Appropriations Committee, condemned the “mess created by a dangerously broken vaccine distribution system created by the Trump administration” and insisted the Biden presidency will put things in order.
“Joe Biden’s plan allows us to walk and chew gum at the same time: continue to expand testing and fix a badly broken vaccine distribution system,” he said. “Wednesday cannot come quickly enough for this country.”
Murphy pointed out recent vaccination efforts in Stamford, where the municipal Department of Public Health had a vaccine distribution platform ready to allocate 1,000 doses but only received 100.
“This is the chaos that exists out there today,” he said.
Murphy highlighted Biden”™s promise to enact the Defense Product Act to speed up vaccination production and to increase federal stimulus money for Americans and small business owners. He also cited Biden”™s proposal for reopening schools.
“I weep for students with special needs and learning disabilities who have not had the wraparound services that they need,” he said. “Joe Biden’s plan is going to allow a generation of kids to catch up for lost time and to make sure that the most vulnerable kids out there are able to get their learning back on track.”
Murphy also noted the death toll that the pandemic has brought in the first two weeks of this year.
“Sometimes it’s hard to understand the significance of these numbers,” he said. “But it is absolutely devastating to think that 40,000 Americans have died of a preventable pandemic just in the first 15 days of this year. That is absolutely stunning.”
