"The plan we put forward prioritizes the elderly and patients with underlying conditions, as well as healthcare workers and first responders."
"The ultimate decision rests with the governors of the various states — and I hope the governors make wise decisions — who will decide where the vaccines will go in their state and who will get them first. We urge the governors to put America’s seniors first, and also, I think those who work with seniors, which obviously you’re going to have to do that. I think they have to go together. And doctors, nurses, first responders, et cetera."
"This will quickly and dramatically reduce deaths and hospitalizations. And within a short period of time, I think we want to get back to normal. A very standard phrase. We want to just get back to normal, get back to where we were a little more than nine months ago. We were doing incredibly. And in many respects, we’re still doing incredibly with our stock markets and everything else, which are hitting all new highs."
"We’ve already finalized a partnership with Walgreens and CVS, whose executives join us today. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you very much. We appreciate it very much. (Applause.) And they will deliver vaccines directly to nursing homes as soon as the states request that they do so."
"Later today, General Gus Perna will outline the detailed plan to rapidly distribute the vaccine to every state, territory, and tribe. States have designated over 50,000 sites that will receive the vaccine. We’ve worked very closely with the states. Actually, we’ve had very good relationships with the governors — I almost think all of the governors — at least in those conference calls that are somewhat secret, other than sometimes on occasion, Mike, the press will break in, which is fine too. (Laughter.)"
"It’s amazing how you leave those rooms and about 10 seconds later — there wasn’t even time for a leak — they were on the call. (Laughter.) But that’s all right. So you assume that. You always assume that. But they’ll be going through pharmacies, hospitals, healthcare providers."
"Through our partnership with FedEx, UPS, and McKesson, we’ll ship doses from warehouses directly to the designated sites. And we’re thrilled to be joined by representatives of those, really, great American companies. Those companies have worked with us, and they’ve been incredible to work with. And I want to thank you all for being here. Please, thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you very much."
"As I’ve stated all along — and I guess as you saw pretty vividly. I heard about the — I heard about what they — we’re going to show prior to my coming. You saw that very few people thought that this was possible. Of course, they’ll be saying now, “We always told you it was so.” But we have them saying a little bit different."
"But it has been incredible. And it will end the pandemic. It will end the pandemic. And we’re working with other nations. As you see actually by looking at your screen today, we’re working very closely with other nations also to get the vaccines out to other nations. And that’s very important. We work with the world. We’re working with the world. We have great companies, and we’re working with the world."
"In just a few minutes, I’ll sign an executive order to ensure that the United States government prioritizes the getting out of the vaccine to American citizens before sending it to other nations."
"Now, if necessary, I told you, we’ll invoke the Defense Production Act, but we don’t think it will be necessary. If it is — it’s a very powerful act, as you know, because we’ve used it very, very successfully."
"While we begin to swiftly deploy the vaccine, we’ll continue to expand the availability of groundbreaking therapies. Since April, advances in treatments have already helped reduce the mortality rate by 85 percent. Think of that: 85 percent. (Applause.) It’s an incredible number."
"I’ve delivered on my solemn promise to make the antibody treatments — they’re brilliant; they’re highly successful — available to every American, and we’re doing that free of cost — totally free of cost. So we’re making them available, and they’re available now. And if somebody gets sick, it works, where they go and they get treatment if that’s what the doctors are prescribing. And it’s been incredible, the success."
"And when you hear 85 percent, that’s some number. To me, that’s a number that goes along with anything else, including the vaccines, when you think about it. As well as we’ve done with the vaccines, when you hear “85 percent,” people — people find that one hard to believe. But you look at the stats, and you see what’s happening."
"And you look at other countries; they’re having tremendous difficulties in Europe — tremendous. Beyond — relatively beyond what we’re having. They’re having them all over the world."
"But this will vanquish the — the problem, this horrible scourge — as I call it, the “China virus,” because that’s where it came from."
"The virus has really been looked at and studied all over the world, and our scientists, our industrial and economic mobilization has been like nobody else in the world could have done. And it’s very important that we share that with others and other nations."
"I’ve worked and invoked the Defense Production Act over 100 times to manufacture essential supplies in the United States. Despite the grim projections from the media eight months ago, where they said this was impossible — they actually said — and you saw that a little bit, but I could give you two hours’ worth of it. But they said it will never happen; you could never do it; it was a pipe dream. But we — we did something that nobody thought was possible."
"And we also did it where no American who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator. When we — when this first came out, we weren’t equipped for that. Nobody was equipped for that. And we’re now making ventilators. And we have all we need in this country, but we’re sending them to countries all over the world. We’re making thousands and thousands of ventilators a month."
"The United States has also created the largest, most advanced, and most innovative testing program in the world by far. We’ve conducted over 200 million tests. Think of that: 200 million tests — more than all of the European Union combined. It’s not even close."
"Just 10 months ago, none of these innovations even existed. The tremendous progress that we’ve made is a testament to what our nation is capable of. When America is faced with a challenge, we come through — and we always come through — to overcome every hardship and surmount every obstacle. And I think you’ll be seeing that over the next few months; the numbers should skyrocket downward."
"We are the most exceptional nation in the history of the world. Today, we’re on the verge of another American medical miracle. And that’s what people are saying. People that aren’t necessarily big fans of Donald Trump are saying, “Whether you like him or not, this is one of the greatest miracles in the history of modern-day medicine” or any other medicine — any other age of medicine."
"American companies were the first to produce a verifiably safe and effective vaccine. Together, we will defeat the virus, and we will soon end the pandemic, and we will save millions and millions of lives, both in our country and all over the world. And we’ve already started."
"Thank you again to every person here today and for the incredible achievements that you’ve done. You’re going to be very proud of this day, and you’re going to be very proud of this period of time because nobody thought this was possible. Nobody thought it was even remotely possible to do what we’ve done in a period of less than nine months — something that — just not even thinkable."
"And we took a lot of heat when we said this is our goal, and we, frankly, weren’t even quite using the numbers that we used. We far exceeded what we thought. If we would have said “sometime next year,” I think most people would have said, “That would be great. That would be a miracle.” But we did it long before sometime next year."
"So now I want to ask several leaders who have been crucial in this effort to join me on stage as I sign the executive order to ensure that American citizens have first priority to receive American vaccines. And then we’re going to be working with other countries all over the world, and I think we’ll be able to start doing that almost immediately also, because we have millions of doses coming in."
"So thank you very much. Thank you. It’s a great honor. (Applause.)"
"(The executive order is signed.)"