Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2021

April 1, 2021

The President. Well, thank you very much. That's a very generous introduction. [Laughter] I hope that's true, but I'm not so sure.

Look, folks, first of all, I want to thank you all for thisâthe faith community leaders getting together. And I want to thank my buddy, Cedric, for honchoing this for me andâbecause we both believe that you have profound influence on not only your congregations, but on the public at large. You are the community leaders. And Jill and I want to send our warmest wishes to all of you, your families, your congregations, and your communities on this holiday and holy season.

You know, what I always find remarkable as one of my avocations isâand I think I drive Cedric crazy and some of you crazyâhas been theology and comparative religion. And one of the interesting thingsâthink about the confluence of theâthis season marks remarkable confluence of holy days across a number of traditions.

Jill and I, we're looking forward to our Easter celebration, where we get to get together with our family. And because we've had the great honor of being vaccinated, we may be able to get together with some of them this Easter. Andâbut Passover began last week. The Hindu holiday of Holi was last week. Ramadan is right around the corner.

And you know it's not only a time of reverence and celebration, it's one of the most important opportunities of the year to connect with your congregations and with your communities. And all of the great confessional faiths have the same notion about the value of human beings and the value in that we're made in the image of God, and that's why all of you gotten involved in the way you have. And no oneâno oneâno one is not important; everyone is important.

And so, you know, everybody is looking to you this season. Theyâyou know, they trust you. It's one of the most important opportunities of the year to connect with your congregations. And I hope that doesn't sound instructive; I don't mean to sound that way. Iâyou know better than I do. But it'sâbut to connect with your congregations and those in your community.

And so, you know, I think they're looking to you this season. As I said, they trust you. And you have a chance to deliver not only a spiritual direction, but comfort and guidance; prayers of joy, love, reflection; you know, rebirth that's synonymous with these holidays. Because in the last year, you've been throughâwe've been through an awful lot of tough, tough times, particularly all of you in the faith community.

How many times did you watch on a cell phone a parishioner having to say goodbye to his mother or father in a ward where they couldn't be there? A nurse holding up that phone. And allâhow many times have you lamented the fact that leaders in your faith community have not even been able to have the funerals that they deserve and the remembrance that is so important, because there's a finality? How many of you have not been able to, you know, be at the cemetery site and with the family? I meanâand there's so many things that people look to you for comfort for.

And you know, I said earlier this week, we're in a race against this virus, and the race is far from over. You know, it'sâweâit's taken far too many moms and dads; sisters; brothers; you know, grandpops, grandmoms. You know. And theyâwe put dreams and plans on hold, and it's kept us physically apart, which is not the instinct of human beings. They want to congregate.

They want to be with otherâand they want to be with one another of like views, like conscience, like values.

And so we all know many families are still going without a familiar comfort to the season.

We know that, despite the progress we've made, this fight is far from over.

We also know that signs of hope have emerged. I wasâwe were looking at a mass vaccination site out inâI think it was in Arizona, and the nurse was talking to usâvirtual. And the nurse was saying thatâshe saidâwell, I was asking her how many shots had been given, and she said: "These are shots of hope. These are shots of hope." Hope springs eternal. You're a source of so much hope.

And more than aâwe've now givenâI'm very proud to say we've administered over 130 million shots. And 75 percent of all seniors now have received the shots, which is a drastic change and increases exponentially the prospect that they'll live out their lives in the way they anticipated. And you know, 100 million of those shots in fewer than 9 weeks, and more every day.

And families are getting the financial relief they need so they can take a breath. I don't know how many of you have had to carry people who have beenâin your communitiesâbecause they've beenâthe food shortagesâthe failureâpeople getting thrown out of their apartments or not able to pay their mortgage.

Well, with the legislation I was able toâ[*inaudible*]âwith the help of Cedric and so many other peopleâget passed, it has brought genuine relief, serious, serious relief to people. It's about, you know, "What you do unto the least of my brethren, you do unto me." I mean, it'sâthis is reallyâit is significant.

And also, you know, we launched a program toâbecause, you know, this has been an unequal killer. It has focused mainlyâyou know, the African American community; the Hispanic community; the AAPâthe Asian Pacific community. It hasâit has damaged them much more than others. They are three to four times more likely to die if they've gotten the COVID. And they're about the same percentage likely to get the COVID over the traditionalâthe remainder of the white population. And so I've beenâwe've set up, in our effort to deal with COVID and the COVID team we put together, a scientist who is nothing but racial equity to make sure we can get to the people.

And by the way, I need not tell you all I come from a community that has a very large African American population, and I spent a lot of time in the Black church, because it does more for my community than most anything else. And IâI don't knowâyou know, I can remember discussions way backâwhen I was a kid getting started in public lifeâabout how there was a distrust forâfor some docs and mass vaccination things.

And even when we wereâIâmy wife put together an ability to get mammogram vans to go around communities. There's distrust because, you know, there have been experimentation on African Americans in World War II, so many things where the treatment has not been fair and decent.

So I wanted to makeâyou know, Cedric and I want to make sure that this does not ever happen again. And we've been totally science-based. But you're trusted voices in the community. You know, this is the moment that the people you serve are looking forâfor direction, looking for some help.

And we need to get the word out. And the word is that these vaccines are safe, I promise you. I promise you they're safe. That's why I've made sure to get one on television so people can

see the President of the United States. Why would I take a vaccine that I thought wasn't safe? And they're safe.

Andâbut we also made it more available. One of the things we didâand initially caused a little bit of a stir among some Governorsâbut you know, we made vaccinations available to 17,000 local pharmacies because that's where people were most comfortableâwhere they can go.

And then, I've scaled that up to now 40,000 local pharmacies and stores you can get these shots. This is going to put vaccination sites within 5 miles of 90 percent of all Americans. We also have hundreds of mobile vehicles going out in rural and African American and Hispanic communities, because a lot of people that are older, they can't get to where they have to go.

And theâand Health and Human Services is making $3 billion in grants available for community groups within States to increase access at our federally run vaccination centers. We partner with faith-based organizationsâmany of you on the phone, I'm sureâto reverse the vaccine, you know, delay and make sure we can reserve appointments for members.

And we're soon going to be in place where everybodyâevery American will be able to get the vaccine and should get in line. There should be no restrictions based on age any longer because we're able to get overâoverâyou know, we've gotten millions and millions of shotsâ vaccines available.

So look, the point I guess I'm trying to make is: The faith communityâas faith community leaders, you've been critical partners with us in our COVID response and our vaccine efforts already, including many of you on this call.

But we need you to spread the word. Let people in our communities, in your communities know how important it is to get everyone vaccinated when it's their turn. And soon, they'll just be able to just line up and just get their name on a list. And that's how we're going to defeat this virus. And that's how we're going to come together again in our communities, in our houses of worship, in my view.

You know, I know people think I'm kidding when Iâwhat I'm worried about now, as the scientists tell me, is that people are getting too cavalierâwhere, you know, we're traveling a great deal, we're gathering in larger crowdsâand people aren't wearing their masks, aren't social distancing, aren't washing their hands. And you see that it's starting to spike in other areas again.

So we're not finished with this. So, you knowâand I don't, you knowâsome people think that's an imposition on people's freedom. I think it's theâa godly thing to do. Protect your brother and sister. That's what this is about. It's about protecting people. It's a patriotic duty I think we have.

But they're going to listen to your words more than they are me as President of the United States. When they're in your sanctuaries, you can talk to them about what we have to do, what's available, and not to be fearfulânot to be fearful getting the vaccine.

And I've said, I think it'sâI guess I should say, and I'll conclude by saying: I think it's more than a patriotic duty; I think it's a moral duty. Put an end to the dark years behind usâa dark yearâand do our part to spread the light in the spirit of all holidays of this spring season.

I want to thank you all for what you're doing. I look forward to being able to get back into houses of worship and visit like I have in the past and will hope to do again.

But, in the meantime, God bless you all. Thank you for looking out for yourâour brethren.

And I think we can get this done. But thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 12:15 p.m. at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to White House Director of Public Engagement Cedric L. Richmond; Brittney Hayes, head charge nurse, Arizona State University's State Farm Stadium vaccination site in Glendale, AZ; and White House COVIDâ19 Health Equity Task Force Chair Marcella Nunez-Smith. Audio was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Faith and community engagement, videoconference. Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Biden, Jill T.; Hayes, Brittney; Nunez-Smith, Marcella; Richmond, Cedric L.

Subjects: COVIDâ19 Health Equity Task Force, White House; Diseases : Coronavirus, domestic prevention efforts; Economy, national : Strengthening efforts; Health and medical care : Community health centers; Holidays and special observances : Easter; Holidays and special observances : Holi; Holidays and special observances : Passover; Holidays and special observances : Ramadan; Religion : Faith and community leaders, videoconference with President; Taxation : Child tax credit; White House Office : Public Engagement, Office of.

DCPD Number: DCPD202100281.