Jennifer Rene Psaki and Susan Elizabeth Rice

“ We are assessing every day where the holes are, where the gaps are, what the holdups are. It’s not just supply; it is beyond that. It’s also having the number of vaccinators we need, the number of vaccine distribution sites we need. Those are all issues, if you talk to any governor, that they will say are challenges to getting the vaccine in the arms of the American people.
And what the President’s goal is, is ensuring that there is greater availability in the spring. He will push his team. He pushes his team on COVID and updates on it, even when it’s a meeting about other issues. ”

“ He restored the integrity of the census so that our constitutionally mandated accounting of every person in the United States is fair and inclusive.
And even before taking office, President Biden released his American Rescue Plan that will make historic investments in advancing equity. Independent economists estimate that his plan will cut child poverty in half — cut child poverty in half for all Americans — and reduce overall poverty in America by 30 percent.
Black families this year will face a poverty rate of 20 percent if Congress does not act on the American Rescue Plan. ”

“ One, we have established within our COVID task force an effort on equity — and that includes, obviously, racial equity — that will focus on health disparities but also on the reality that there are Americans who — and particularly Americans of color — who, for very valid historical reasons, are skeptical and reluctant.And a large part of what our colleagues on the COVID task force are doing — this is the second part — is reaching out directly, through targeted campaigns, to get to those very communities where the skepticism is highest. ”

“ Fauci and President Biden viewed herd immunity and when we get out of this pandemic right now. We heard the President yesterday say, “I feel confident that by summer we’re going to be well on our way towards herd immunity.” Dr. Fauci said that he thought this would likely occur — where we were closer to being back to normal — by this fall. Just so it’s clear for Americans what the administration is promising or telling them, when should we expect that takes place? MS. PSAKI: Well, the President is certainly pushing his team every day to deliver results as quickly as possible. ”

“ Well, I think we have seen — and it’s been plain for all Americans on their television sets — just how serious a problem we face from nationalists and white supremacists who have demonstrated a willingness to resort to violence in some instances.And that is why the President has ordered the intelligence community to compile a comprehensive assessment of the nature of this threat and challenge, and its origins and roots, and thus provide policymakers with inputs that will be very important to address this challenge. ”

“ Every agency will place equity at the core of their public engagement, their policy design, and program delivery to ensure that government resources are reaching Americans of color and all marginalized communities — rural, urban, disabled, LGBTQ+, religious minorities, and so many others.
The President has put equity at the center of his response to the COVID-19 and economic crises. ”

“ Americans of color are being infected by and dying from COVID-19 at higher rates.
One in ten black Americans and one in eleven Latino workers are currently unemployed. By some estimates, 40 percent of black-owned businesses have been forced to close for good during the COVID crisis.
Black and Latino families with children are twice as likely to be experiencing food insecurity during the pandemic as white families. And black and Latino Americans are 2.8 times more likely to die of COVID-19. ”

“ Let’s see.While the overriding goal of the United States is to support a peaceful democratic transition in Venezuela through free and fair elections, he has long been clear — the President, that is — that his administration’s approach to Venezuela will focus on addressing the humanitarian situation, providing support to the Venezuelan people, and reinvigorating multilateral diplomacy to press for a democratic outcome and pursue individuals involved in corruption, human rights abuses, and pursue individuals involved with that. ”

“ But he is in close touch, as our team is — members of our senior team — as you know, Brian Deese, a number of senior officials here at the White House — speaking with different caucuses in Congress — Republicans, Democrats, people from different wings of different parties — about our plans and our commitment to getting the COVID package passed. But our view is that a lot of those conversations should happen one-on-one, should happen in small groups, and that’s the most productive way to move this bill forward. ”

“ Today, the average black family has just one tenth the wealth of the average white family, while the gap between the white and black — between white and black in homeownership is now larger than it was in 1960. ”

“ As I’ve said many times in my personal capacity, and I say again, I believe we all rise or fall together. Advancing equity is a critical part of healing and of restoring unity in our nation. The President will have more to say about all of this later this afternoon.
And I’m happy to take a few of your questions.
MS. PSAKI: Peter.
Q Ambassador Rice, thank you. You speak about communities of color, right now, that are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Of course, they’re also less inclined to have faith in the federal government response to the vaccination process. ”

“ The American Rescue Plan also provides critical relief to Native American communities and tribes. These investments will lift over 8 million black, Latino, and Asian Americans out of poverty and provide relief across sectors where families of color are most disproportionately impacted by this crisis: in food and financial security, healthcare access, and education and childcare.
Today, President Biden is continuing his commitment to embedding equity at the center of his agenda by signing an additional package of executive actions. ”

“ Well, health disparities in communities of color existed long before the Trump administration took office, and I think that’s a statement of fact. But what did not happen was actions put in place to ensure greater accessibility to communicat- — communities of color for healthcare, greater communications on public campaign about how communities of color could gain access to healthcare and treatments. ”

“ And so what this executive order will do — it will make it a priority and infuse expertise and personnel to ensure we are addressing issues that impact communities of color across the country every day, and not just every few months when it’s an issue that comes up and prompts questioning. ”

“ And that’s vitally important because as we — as communities of color are suffering disproportionately and may have less access to information about the vaccine and the ability to easily go online, in some instances, and get an appointment, we have to take those additional steps to ensure that they are aware of its availability, they can get appointments, and that they understand that the vaccine is safe. ”

“ But also part of it will be working with pharmacies and working with health centers in communities so that communities across the country — rural communities, communities of color — have easier access to know where they can go and get a vaccine.But this is going to be hard, and we are not trying to sugarcoat that. And it will be very challenging. This is why everybody who comes and speaks about COVID talks about our — the challenge of vaccine hesitancy and how we’re going to overcome that. ”

“ Q And following up on that, in terms of data collection, it’s my understanding that something like 50 percent of the vaccinations are coming in without racial data. Is that accurate, or is there something else there? I’m wondering how you’ll measure success in vaccinating people of color in vulnerable communities if you don’t have the data on who’s getting vaccinated.And will we see — be seeing, kind of, mobile outlooks, mobile, kind of — mobile — just mobile outreach to those communities, in terms of vaccines? ”

“ On the second question on testing: We’re constantly evaluating — of course, our medical and health experts — steps that need to be taken to keep the American people safe. We announced some travel restrictions, as you know, yesterday. ”

“ That’s the number we set, based on the recommendations of health and medical experts; it continues to be our goal. But does he want to do — beat that goal? Of course, he does. Of course, he does.But, again, it is a goal that was set with contingencies we need to plan for in mind, and he’s going to continue to push the team to meet that goal and go beyond it. ”

“ And I think he doesn’t feel that there — the Democrats and Republicans in Congress have the space and the time to wait; that there’s an urgency that the American people are going to continue to push members who are representing them on. ”

“ The National Security Council has set up a capacity within the NSC to focus on domestic violent extremism and to ensure that we are, within the White House and within the interagency, coordinating efforts to craft and implement policies that will address this. ”

“ This is his focus every single day. And — but the fact is, every American is not going to be eligible this spring. We’re going to continue to increase supply; that’s part of it. And he has said many, many times, it’s going to take months and months for a broad swath of the population to be vaccinated. ”

“ And no one wants to be having a conversation in May about why our schools aren’t open and why millions of people have been kicked off of unemployment insurance. So, part of our role here is to look ahead, and that’s what — exactly what we’re trying to do with this package. Q Okay. And to one other issue: The — President Trump signed an executive order restricting exports of vaccines that are manufactured within the United States. That order is still in effect. First of all, what is your assessment of exactly whether drug manufacturers are able to send these vaccines overseas? ”

“ Q And finally — finally, this is on behalf of a colleague who was not able to be here today due to social distancingDoes the President believe he can attain unity with the 74 million Trump voters while urging his allies in the Senate to hold an impeachment trial after his predecessor has already left office? MS. PSAKI: Well, the President’s belief is that he was elected by 81 million Americans, in part because they believed that he was somebody who could help bring the country together, unify the country around addressing the crisis that we face. ”

“ But he would, if he were standing here today — one, he’d be a lot taller than me, but he would say there are — he will defer to health and medical experts to get their assessments on when we can reach the point of herd immunity.
Peter, go ahead.
Q There is a report now that the Chief Financial Officer of Florida has sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee that Florida would like to host the Olympics if Japan, next year, is uncomfortable because of the pandemic. Is a Florida Olympics in 2021 something you can see the White House supporting? MS. PSAKI: Wow. ”

“ And ensuring we are a partner to the global community on this effort only makes us safer and the American people safer. But I’d have to check on a specific export question for you.Go ahead.
Q Jen, the National COVID strategy of the administration, released just a couple of day ago, says that, quote, “The United States will accelerate the pace of vaccinations by encouraging states and localities to move through priority groups more quickly.” What is “more quickly”? How should governors interpret that? ”

“ MS. PSAKI: Jeff Zients will be one of the — one of the health officials, or one of the, I should say, policy officials, who is on the call today. There may be others, but he’s one of the primary leaders of the call. Q And bipartisan governors, obviously, participating? MS. PSAKI: I believe so, yes. Exactly.Okay, last one. I’m breaking Jonathan’s rule, but —
Q Hey, Jen. We just saw that President Biden has spoken to President Putin. Can you give us an update on the nature of their call? What came up? MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm. ”