US election 2020: Joe Biden warns: standoff will cause deaths

In his strongest comments yet on Trump’s refusal to concede, Joe Biden says it could lead to delays in the rollout of a new vaccine.

US President-elect Joe Biden speaks during a press conference in Wilmington, Delaware. Picture: AFP.

Joe Biden has warned that more people will die if Donald Trump continues to block his transition process because it could lead to delays in the rollout of a new coronavirus vaccine.

In his strongest comments so far on the president’s refusal to concede his election defeat, Mr Biden said it was preventing his team from co-ordinating with Mr Trump’s health experts over the surging coronavirus.

“More people may die if we don’t co-ordinate,” the president elect said. “How do we get over 300 mill Americans vaccinated? … it’s a huge, huge, huge undertaking to get it done, to prioritise those in greatest need.

“They (the Trump administration) say they have this Warp Speed program that not only helps them get the vaccine but also to distribute it. If we had to wait until January 20 to start our planning, it puts us behind … so it is important that it is done in co-ordination now,” he said.

Mr Biden’s comments were supported by Mr Trump’s top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci, who said it was crucial the Trump administration co-ordinate quickly with the Biden team over the vaccine.

“We want to get doses to people starting in December, and then we want to really get the ball rolling as we get into January, February and March,” Dr Fauci said. “We want a smooth process with that and the way you do that is by essentially having the two groups speak to each other and exchange information.”

Both men were speaking after biotech company Moderna announced that its coronavirus vaccine was almost 95 per cent effective in preliminary tests. The results sent Wall St stocks soaring and gave hope to many Americans at a time when new infections are hitting record levels across the country.

New infections from the virus are currently exceeding 150,000 a day, almost four times larger than two months ago. Deaths have also climbed over 1,200 a day with almost 250,000 deaths in total.

Mr Biden said the pandemic had the economy “teetering on the edge” and that Americans were heading into a “very dark winter” as the virus surges without a vaccine available.

Mr Trump welcomed news of the Moderna results, reminding people that the breakthrough occurred under his presidency.

“Another Vaccine just announced. This time by Moderna, 95% effective. For those great “historians”, please remember that these great discoveries, which will end the China Plague, all took place on my watch!” he tweeted.

Another Vaccine just announced. This time by Moderna, 95% effective. For those great “historians”, please remember that these great discoveries, which will end the China Plague, all took place on my watch!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2020

But the president continued to resist calls for him to accept the election result and allow the Biden team to begin the formal transition process to prepare for the presidency.

“The Radical Left Democrats, working with their partner, the Fake News Media, are trying to STEAL this Election. We won’t let them,” Mr Trump tweeted.

“I won the election,” he said in another tweet.

I won the Election!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2020

A small but growing number of Republicans are publicly acknowledging that Mr Biden has won the election despite the president’s refusal to concede.

Mr Trump’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, said on Tuesday (AEDT) that it “obviously” looked as if Mr Biden had won the election.

“If there is a new administration, they deserve some time to come in and implement their policies,” Mr O’Brien said. “We may have policy disagreements, but, look, if the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner — obviously, things look that way now — we’ll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council. There’s no question about it.”

Mr Trump’s legal team have launched wide ranging legal challenges to the election results across six states in the hope of uncovering enough electoral fraud to overturn the results in those States and deliver an unlikely victory to Mr Trump.

But so far the legal campaign has been unsuccessful with no court ruling that there has been any electoral fraud, much less of the size that would potentially overturn the election result.

(Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia)