Joe Biden says the US will have enough vaccines for all adults in the country by the end of may after invoking the Defence Production Act to accelerate manufacturing of the newly-approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The president said that all teachers should be vaccinated by the end of March in an effort to get students back in school as a "national imperative".
Meanwhile, governors of Texas and Mississippi announced that mask mandates would end and businesses could begin to fully reopen.
Late in the day, the White House announced the withdrawal of Neera Tanden as its nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget after it became increasingly clear she didn’t have support from the Senate.
FBI director Christopher Wray earlier told a Senate judiciary committee hearing that the attack at the Capitol on 6 January was considered by the FBI as “domestic terrorism”.
As Wray was being questioned on security threats at home, US intelligence concluded Russia was behind the poisoning of Alexey Navalny, with sanctions to be imposed against multiple senior government officials.
As several Democrats called on New York governor Andrew Cuomo to resign, the White House defended silence from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as it emerged the third accuser worked for the Biden-Harris administration.
“I’m speaking on their behalf, that’s how they feel, they both feel this is a situation where all of the women coming forward should be treated with dignity and respect and have their voices heard, and that’s a representation of their points of view,” spokesperson Jen Psaki.
Cuomo has authorised attorney general Letitia James to carry out an investigation into the allegations.
After Biden gave a speech marking Read Across America day that excluded Dr Seuss, the White House said it was important for children of all backgrounds see themselves in the books that they read.
While the president released a joint statement with his “equal” partner, Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, signalling their future cooperation, the White House said no commitment has been made to share vaccines with Mexico as Biden's priority is vaccinating America first.
- Donald and Melania Trump ‘both got Covid shot before leaving the White House’
- CDC ‘deeply concerned’ as Covid cases and deaths and increase
- Biden calls Mexican president an ‘equal’ partner amid surge in border crossings
- People who know Trump personally think they know why Republicans really can’t let him go
