Texas snowstorms threaten to overshadow Biden’s vaccine drive

US president Joe Biden may visit Texas next week, as the state continues to struggle with a power emergency in the wake of severe snowstorms.

Speaking at the White House before leaving for Michigan to visit a Pfizer vaccine factory on Friday, Mr Biden said he would decide early next week.

“I had planned on visiting Texas in the middle of next week but I don’t want to be a burden. When the president lands in a city in America it has a long tail,” he said.

The president was expected to sign a federal disaster declaration for Texas later in the day– a designation that would unlock more resources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema). Fema has already sent generators, water, blankets and meals to Texas, which has been battling the effects of a major snowstorm along with neighbouring states.

Millions of Texans were left without power as the state’s energy grid buckled under a surge of energy demand as temperatures plunged this week. While electricity has been restored to most residents, the state now faces a potential water crisis, as residents grapple with burst pipes and a boil water notice affecting more than 13 million homes and businesses.

The crisis presents Mr Biden with the first natural disaster of his presidency, and threatens to overshadow his efforts to focus on his Covid-19 economic relief plan.

Backlog

Andy Slavitt, senior White House adviser on the coronavirus crisis, said the severe weather had led to a backlog of about six million vaccine doses as injection sites closed and shipments were delayed. But he said at Friday’s White House coronavirus briefing that these vaccines were being stored safely.

The US has been increasing the pace of its vaccination programme in recent weeks and administered an average of 1.7 million vaccines per day in the seven-day period finishing last Tuesday.

Speaking following a tour of the Pfizer plant near Kalamazoo, Michigan, Mr Biden highlighted the progress that had been made in developing vaccines, praising the “extraordinary work” being done at the plant.

He repeated his commitment to have enough vaccines for all Americans by July, though he cautioned that this would not mean that all these shots would be administered by then.

He also took aim at former president Donald Trump.

“My predecessor – as my mother would say God love him – failed to order enough vaccines, failed to mobilise the effort to administer the shots, failed to set up vaccine centres,” he said. He also made a direct appeal to people to take the vaccines. “The vaccines are safe. Please, for yourself, your community, your country, take the vaccine when it is your turn and it is available.”