CNN town hall with President Biden

President Joe Biden addressed a second grader who asked him, through her mother, when she might be able to get the vaccine. 

Biden started off by pointing out that the vaccine had not yet been cleared for children. 

"We haven't even done tests yet on children as to whether or not the certain vaccines would work or not work or what is needed," he said.

He went on to reassure her, "you're the safest group of people in the whole world"

"I wouldn't worry about it, baby. I promise you," he said. "But I know it's kind of worrisome."

Watch the moment:

President Biden advised Americans to get any coronavirus vaccine they can, whenever they can.

New variants may eventually reduce the efficacy of vaccines against coronavirus, Biden told CNN’s Anderson Cooper at a CNN Presidential Town Hall in Milwaukee Tuesday. The more the virus circulates, the more likely it is to change into vaccine-resistant forms. So, people should not wait and see, he urged.

“It may be that a certain vaccination for a certain strain may reduce from 95% to a lower percentage of certainty that it will keep you from getting it,” Biden added. “But it will still be effective. So the clear notion is, if you're eligible, if it's available, get the vaccine. Get the vaccine," he continued.

Bigger stimulus checks. More aid for the unemployed, the hungry and those facing eviction. Additional support for small businesses, states and local governments. Increased funding for vaccinations and testing. These are key parts of a $1.9 trillion proposal that President Biden is aiming for Congress to pass.

Billed as the American Rescue Plan, the package augments many of the measures in Congress' historic $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill from March and in the $900 billion legislation from December, which was scaled back to garner support from Senate Republicans.

Here's a look at some key things in the American Rescue Plan:

Read more about Biden's proposal here and the House Democrats' stimulus relief plan here.

President Biden said teachers should move ahead in the line to receive shots in order to reopen schools, attempting to clarify an administration stance that he acknowledged had become muddled over the last week.

Speaking at a CNN town hall from Milwaukee during his first trip outside Washington since taking office, Biden said he wanted kindergarten through eighth grade schools open five days a week, and suggested some schools should remain open over the summer to make up for lost time.

Biden touted a ramping-up of a vaccination program he claimed was woefully inadequate when he entered the White House.

"There was nothing in the refrigerator, literally and figuratively," Biden said.

Pressed on how he would return students to classrooms, Biden said he would emphasize getting vaccines to teachers.

"I think we should be vaccinating teachers. We should move them up in the hierarchy," he said.

What we know: At least 28 states plus Washington, DC, have started allowing all or some teachers and school staff to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.

Though some states have announced they are prioritizing teachers, vaccine availability remains a concern across the country.

There are 22 states where teachers are still not eligible to receive the vaccine as a specific group — although some educators might fall into the current age group that state is vaccinating.

President Biden affirmed that Covid-19 vaccines will be widely available to the general public by the end of July during the first town hall of his presidency.

"By the end of July we'll have over 600 million doses, enough to vaccinate every single American," Biden told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Biden noted that there were only 50 million doses available when he assumed office. Biden said that he implemented the Defense Production Act to "get the manufacturing piece of it to get more equipment."

He explained that one of the major obstacles for actually injecting the vaccine into people was the lack vaccinators. Biden said he issued an executive order to increase the number of vaccinators.

"Now we have made significant strides increasing the number of vaccinators. I issued an executive order allowing former retired docs and nurses to do it. We have over a thousand military personnel ... We have gotten the National Guard engaged ... Plus we have opened up a considerable amount of locations where you can get the vaccine," he said.

Watch the moment:

President Joe Biden tonight clarified confusion on what would qualify as a school reopening, saying that reports that a school could be considered open if it was open just one day per week stemmed from a "mistake in the communication."

Biden was responding to a question from CNN's Anderson Cooper who asked, "your administration had set a goal to open the majority of schools in your first 100 days. You're now saying that means those schools may only be open for at least one day a week." 

Biden then interjected saying there had been an error in how the standard was communicated.

"No, that's not true," he said. "That's what was reported. That's not true. That was a mistake in the communication, but what I'm talking about is I said opening the majority of schools in K through 8th grade because they're the easiest to open, the most needed to be open in terms of the impact on children and families having to stay home. "

Biden's incoming administration pledged last year to reopen “the majority of our schools” in the first 100 days, but later White House press secretary Jen Psaki qualified that one day a week would count as a reopening. 

“His goal that he set is to have the majority of schools — so, more than 50% — open by day 100 of his presidency,” she said. “And that means some teaching in classrooms. So, at least one day a week. Hopefully, it’s more.”

As of Monday, a total of 28 states plus Washington, DC, had started allowing all or some teachers and school staff to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.

Though some states have announced they are prioritizing teachers, vaccine availability remains a concern across the country.

There are 22 states where teachers are still not eligible to receive the vaccine as a specific group — although some educators might fall into the current age group that state is vaccinating.

Some more context: The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday emphasized the need for masking and other mitigation measures in order to reopen schools safely, saying "we have work to do" as teachers, students and parents continue to struggle with Covid-19's impact on education.

The CDC on Friday released its long-awaited guidelines for reopening schools that focus on five key Covid-19 mitigation strategies: the universal and correct wearing of masks; physical distancing; washing hands; cleaning facilities and improving ventilation; and contact tracing, isolation and quarantine. Vaccines and testing are not among the "key" strategies the agency lays out, calling them "additional layers" of Covid-19 prevention.

About 89% of children in the US live in a county considered a red zone with high levels of Covid-19 transmission under those new school opening guidelines shared by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday, according to a CNN analysis of federal data.

Watch the moment:

President Biden is being asked about his administration's vaccine plans and timeline for distribution.

Last Thursday, Biden announced that the United States will have enough coronavirus vaccines for 300 million Americans by the end of July, underscoring that he believes his administration has made significant progress given that there wasn't a rollout plan in place under the Trump administration.

Biden used the NIH appearance to announce that the timeline for the previously announced vaccine purchases had been moved up.

Moderna and Pfizer will deliver a total of 200 million coronavirus vaccine doses by the end of July, rather than the end of the summer, he said. The companies will also deliver 100 million expected doses by the end of May, rather than the end of June.

The President, echoing claims made by other administration officials since the start of his tenure in office, asserted that the Trump administration "did not have a plan" for vaccine distribution.

In the waning days of the Trump administration, officials announced they would be releasing reserved coronavirus vaccine doses that they had saved for second doses of the vaccine. However, shortly after the announcement, it became clear many of those reserves had already been released last year as production was ramping up.

Thursday's announcement pushes up the Biden administration's previous timeline for vaccinating the US population. Late last month, Biden had said the US was on track to have enough vaccine supply to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of summer or early fall.

The President also said on Thursday that the country was on track to beat its goal of administering 100 million vaccine doses into the arms of Americans in his first 100 days of office.

President Biden was just asked about school reopenings during the pandemic, one of his administration's key priorities to speed up recovery.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday released guidelines for reopening schools that focus on five key Covid-19 mitigation strategies:

Vaccines and testing are not among the "key" strategies the agency lays out, calling them "additional layers" of Covid-19 prevention.

But the new recommendations come amid a national debate about when and how to reopen schools, even as fear of spreading coronavirus continues and a push to prioritize teachers for vaccinations grows.

"I want to be clear, with this operational strategy, CDC is not mandating that schools reopen. These recommendations simply provide schools a long-needed roadmap for how to do so safely under different levels of disease in the community," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a news briefing on Friday.

"We also know that some schools are already providing in-person instruction and we want them to be able to continue to do this, but we know that some are not following the recommended mitigation strategies we know to work," Walensky said.

"For these schools, we are not mandating that they close; rather, we are providing these recommendations and highlighting the science behind them to help schools create an environment that is safe for schools, students, teachers and staff," she continued.

The coronavirus pandemic is one of the biggest challenges of the Biden administration as the nation aims to quickly vaccinate the population.

While new cases across the country have decreased, experts worry that if Americans let their guards down — especially now with variants circulating — there could be another surge coming.

Here's a look at the latest coronavirus figures and trends in the US: