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President-elect Joe Biden’s Covid Advisory Board member Dr. Celine Gounder slammed the Trump administration’s piecemeal Covid response as some states across the U.S. scramble to get the vaccine doses they need. “I think we’ve already had too much of a patchwork response across the states,” Gounder said in a Monday evening interview on “The News with Shepard Smith.” ... On Monday, Cuomo sent a letter to Pfizer asking if the state of New York could buy vaccines directly from the company. Last week, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made a similar request to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Gounder told host Shepard Smith that this approach could cause more problems than it solves. (DeCiccio, 1/18)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday asked Pfizer Inc. if it would sell its Covid-19 vaccine directly to New York state, to help alleviate a shortfall of federally allocated doses that he blames on the Trump administration. In a letter to Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Albert Bourla, the Democratic governor said he was appealing to the company directly after Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar failed to deliver on a commitment to increase the doses to New York state. (Carlton and West, 1/18)

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will arrive in the nation’s capital on Tuesday evening for an inauguration eve ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool honoring the nearly 400,000 people who have died during the coronavirus pandemic that will be his first priority after he is sworn in the next day. The somber remembrance will kick off two days of in-person and virtual events as Mr. Biden takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, becoming the 46th president of the United States at a time of economic struggle and cultural upheaval in the wake of President Trump’s four years in the White House. (Shear and Thrush, 1/18)

President-elect Biden’s newly released vaccine distribution plan promises to dramatically increase the number of vaccination sites in America by mobilizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard, relying on low-income community health centers, and pharmacies around the country. Biden unveiled the plan in a Friday afternoon speech in which he doubled down on his long-stated goal: Administering 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office. (Florko, 1/15)

President-elect Joe Biden and his team are walking a tightrope with their coronavirus vaccine plan, rolling out an ambitious strategy while also tempering expectations as to how quickly it can be enacted. Biden’s plan, officially announced Friday, is a sweeping proposal aimed at dramatically increasing the federal involvement in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. (Weixel, 1/17)

KHN: Biden Terms Vaccine Rollout ‘A Dismal Failure’ As He Unveils Pandemic Response Plan

In the past 24 hours, President-elect Joe Biden has delivered two speeches focused on the nation’s covid response. Thursday night, he laid out a $1.9 trillion-dollar plan to address what he’s calling the “twin crises” of the covid-19 pandemic and the economy. (Knight, 1/15)