Wilmington: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said that if he elected president of US, he would mandate Covid-19 vaccines be free for all Americans. It is a part of a national strategy to “Get Ahead” of the Covid-19 he said. Biden said in a speech laying out his pandemic response plan just 11 days before the US presidential election, “Once we have a safe and effective vaccine, it has to be free to everyone — whether or not you’re insured.”

Biden, who has made it a point to follow scientists’ guidelines such as wearing facemasks and engaging in social distancing, said that if he is elected he would be focused on bringing the pandemic to heel, and to help struggling Americans with the costs. As he laid out his emergency plan to battle the pandemic, Biden assailed President Donald Trump for his response, saying the Republican incumbent has “given up” fighting the virus and has “quit on America.” Trump, in his second and final debate with Biden, on Thursday tried to signal that the US was overcoming the pandemic.

Trump, who trails Biden in the polls, has also stressed that a vaccine — which he says will be ready in the coming weeks — should be free. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Covid-19 vaccine doses purchased with taxpayer dollars — through billions of dollars in funding approved by Congress — would be administered to the American people at no cost. “We’re rounding the turn, we’re rounding the corner, it’s going away,” Trump said.

Biden said that if elected he would “immediately” put in place a national strategy “to finally get ahead of this virus, and get back our lives.” That would include consulting governors of all 50 states during the presidential transition. After inauguration, Biden would urge Congress to pass major legislation addressing the country’s needs to battle the pandemic, implement a national mask mandate in federal buildings and interstate transportation and launch a national testing plan equivalent to a seven-fold increase over today’s testing level. Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, told donors Friday that the Covid-19 crisis is “probably one of the greatest mass casualty events we have ever experienced as a country.”