Live updates: President Biden is in Raleigh to talk vaccines. The latest on his visit.
The News & Observer is publishing live updates from President Joe Biden’s remarks at Raleigh’s Green Road Community Center Thursday.
Biden is visiting North Carolina for the first time as president and is here to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Check back here for more updates.
Biden’s motorcade traveling through Raleigh
UPDATED AT 6:46 P.M.: President Joe Biden has made his way out of the Green Road Community Center after spending more than 30 minutes taking photos with the audience.
Biden left the venue at 6:40 p.m. and is traveling through Raleigh back toward Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
It is unclear what path the motorcade is traveling but roadways could be shut down as he makes his way back to Air Force One.
— Danielle Battaglia, dbattaglia@newsobserver.com
Biden on vaccines in North Carolina
UPDATED AT 6:01 P.M.: President Joe Biden discussed vaccinations in North Carolina.
“My administration provided $105 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, to help get people vaccinated, work with the governor and county officials across the state, or to personnel in the Tar Heel State, just to put the needle in somebody’s arm,” Biden said. ”This has been a gigantic, gigantic, logistical challenge, not just in North Carolina but all across America.”
Biden said more than 660 National Guard members supported the COVID-19 response in North Carolina. He said the mass site in Greensboro administered 135,000 vaccines.
Biden said vaccinations in North Carolina have reduced by 90% the number of COVID-19 tests over five months.
“For all the progress we made as a country, hospitalizations and deaths are down drastically,” Biden said. “In places where people are getting vaccinated, the data couldn’t be clearer, if you’re vaccinated, you’re safe.
“But you are still at risk of getting seriously ill or dying, if you in fact have not been vaccinated.”
Biden said 1,400 pharmacies in North Carolina are administering vaccines and have distributed 2.2 million of them.
Biden said many of the pharmacies are staying open 24 hours on Friday to administer the vaccine. He urged people to go out and get the vaccine.
“Get it done,” Biden said.
— Danielle Battaglia, dbattaglia@newsobserver.com
Biden addresses COVID-19 deaths
UPDATED 5:49 P.M.: “I wanted to come to Raleigh to thank everyone in this room for everything you’re doing to get your community vaccinated,” President Joe Biden said. “It matters. You’re saving lives and that’s not hyperbole.”
The pandemic has killed 600,000 Americans, and Biden said that’s more people than were killed in any modern war.
He said right now 66% of U.S. adults and 87% of seniors have received a shot.
Biden told the crowd that America would win the fight against COVID-19.
“We have an obligation in the United States of America to live up to who we are,” Biden said, adding that the world is watching how America would handle the virus.
Biden urged the crowd to get vaccinated.
— Danielle Battaglia, dbattaglia@newsobserver.com
Wake County college student introduces Biden
UPDATED AT 5:37 P.M.: Ive Jones, a Wake County resident and student at Princeton University, introduced the president.
The crowd cheered as Jones and President Joe Biden walked onto the stage.
A cheer went out, “Let’s Go Biden, Let’s Go!”
Jones said that she was disappointed by the unusual start of her school year at Princeton but more affected by the devastation the pandemic had on North Carolina.
She said she watched helplessly as COVID-19 cases and fatalities climbed in North Carolina.
“If the pandemic has reinforced anything it is that health and life are not ensured to anyone, despite what we would like to believe,” Jones said. “To receive the COVID-19 vaccine is to honor the over 400 people hospitalized at this very moment. To receive this vaccine is to honor you, your community and to honor the gift of another day.”
She then introduced Biden and was met with loud cheers.
“We love you, Joe Biden,” a cheer went out from the crowd.
— Danielle Battaglia, dbattaglia@newsobserver.com
Gov. Roy Cooper introduces Biden
UPDATED AT 5:29 P.M.: Gov. Roy Cooper introduced President Joe Biden at the Green Road Community Center Thursday evening.
“We want to welcome President Joe Biden to the great state of North Carolina,” Cooper said. “We want to thank him for providing strong coordinated, sensible, strategic national leadership out of this pandemic.”
The crowd cheered. Cooper thanked God for the vaccine.
“During this pandemic we used science and data to make the hard decisions and with our larger states, North Carolina is among the lowest in deaths and job loss per capita,” Cooper said. “That’s a good thing. That means we’ve done things right.”
But Cooper said that with only 55% of the adult population vaccinated he needs the crowd to urge their family and friends to go get their shot.
— Danielle Battaglia, dbattaglia@newsobserver.com
Biden meets with people getting vaccinated
UPDATED 5:24 P.M.: President Joe Biden and Gov. Roy Cooper are standing outside a mobile vaccination site as four people are sitting outside waiting to be vaccinated.
Biden spoke with them briefly and took a photo with them before saying he would move on so he wouldn’t hold them up even longer.
Nearby spectators watched the president.
“I’ve very excited that he’s in the White House, number one, that he has surrounded himself with such competent people, that our country is running smoothing again after four years, and I think things are good,” said Maureen McFadden, 79.
Inside, about 300 people are waiting to hear the president speak. Most aren’t wearing masks.
— Danielle Battaglia, dbattaglia@newsobserver.com, Avi Bajpai, abajpai@newsobserver.com and Laura Brache, lbrache@newsobserver.com
Biden meets with North Carolina leaders
UPDATED AT 5:01 P.M.: President Biden met with many leaders and state officials after arriving at the Green Road Community Center in Raleigh.
Among those present are Attorney General Josh Stein, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen, House Minority Leader Robert Reives, Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, Durham Mayor Steve Schewel and Wake County Board of Commissioners Chairman Matt Calabria.
Also present are the Rev. William Barber II, the Rev. Della Jane Owens, the Rev. Vance Haywood Jr. and MaryBe McMillan, president of the North Carolina AFL-CIO.
As Barber walked into the community center he was greeted with loud cheers from the crowd.
Barber had been arrested in Washington a day prior for impeding traffic outside the Hart Senate Building. Barber and the Poor People’s Campaign were in Washington protesting policies they said were racist, The News & Observer previously reported.
Outside, a Biden supporter planted himself in a lawn chair in front of the group supporting former President Trump and put a Biden/Harris campaign sign into the dirt in front of him.
— Danielle Battaglia, dbattaglia@newsobserver.com, Avi Bajpai, abajpai@newsobserver.com, Laura Brache, lbrache@newsobserver.com
Biden to meet with nurses
UPDATED AT 4:50 P.M.: President Joe Biden is expected to meet with nurses from WakeMed who have been vaccinating people throughout Raleigh since December, before he delivers remarks at around 5:15 pm.
Among that group is Carolyn Knaup, a registered nurse for more than 30 years who administered the vaccine to Gov. Roy Cooper in March.
— Avi Bajpai, abajpai@newsobserver.com
President Biden arrives
UPDATED AT 4:39 P.M.: President Joe Biden arrived at the Green Road Community Center at 4:24 p.m., the White House press pool reported.
Reporters in the motorcade said a few dozen onlookers took photos and waved as Biden left the airport and they were greeted by a few dozen more onlookers at the community center.
Biden is expected to tour the mobile vaccination site before giving a speech.
—Danielle Battaglia, dbattaglia@newsobserver.com.
Supporters and opponents await President Biden’s arrival
UPDATED AT 4:34 P.M.: As President Joe Biden makes his way to the Green Road Community Center in Raleigh, people have gathered outside to see him.
Maureen McFadden, 79, and Kathy Alman, 77, both of Raleigh, drove to the community center to sit in beach chairs in the driveway across from the Green Road Community Library.
They say they are excited the president is coming to North Carolina to encourage people to get vaccinated and encourage civic engagement.
“You get the people involved,” McFadden said. “People like Kathy and me, not only people our age, but young people are here and those people will hopefully talk to their legislators.”
Nearby, a couple dozen supporters of former President Donald Trump also waited for Biden’s arrival. They carried anti-vaccination posters and flags honoring Trump and the Confederacy.
— Laura Brache, lbrache@newsobserver.com
President Biden lands in Raleigh, NC
UPDATED AT 4:18 P.M.: President Joe Biden arrived in Raleigh at 3:45 p.m. Thursday, according to White House pool reports.
Biden exited the plane at 3:56 p.m. and spoke with Gov. Roy Cooper and Michael Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the report states.
The president left the airport just after 4 p.m. and is expected to make his way to the Green Road Community Center within 25 minutes.
Many media outlets are reporting that his motorcade has closed major roadways including Capital Boulevard.
The intersection of Green Road and Brockton Drive has been blocked off by the Raleigh Police Department Mobile Command Center and some additional police vehicles.
The White House is reporting that Biden’s speech should begin at 5:15 p.m.
— Danielle Battaglia, dbattaglia@newsobserver.com, and Laura Brache, lbrache@newsobserver.com
Crowds, protesters await President Biden’s arrival
UPDATED 3:20 P.M.: A crowd of a few hundred people, most of them volunteers and front line workers with local nonprofits that have been helping administer vaccines in the Triangle, are at the Green Road Community Center awaiting Biden.
Originally scheduled to arrive at the center at 4:50 p.m., Biden is now expected to be delayed by at least an hour, after he gave remarks on infrastructure talks with members of Congress prior to departing Washington.
A small group of supporters of former president Donald Trump were assembled outside the center, holding Trump signs.
—Avi Bajpai, abajpai@newsobserver.com
Where Biden is going and how to watch
In his first presidential visit to North Carolina, Joe Biden will meet with the people on the front lines of his administration’s vaccination effort in Raleigh.
Biden goes to Green Road Community Center in Northeast Raleigh on Thursday afternoon, where he’ll visit a mobile vaccination unit and kick off a canvassing event. He’s scheduled to arrive at the center at 4:50 p.m. and speak at 5:15 p.m.
Biden’s speech will be streamed online. You can watch the remarks on this page or go directly to the White House livestream.
With the state set to fall well short of his goal on vaccination, the president is trying to encourage people to get COVID-19 shots.
Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said the governor would join Biden on Thursday.
Air Force One is due to arrive at Raleigh-Durham International Airport at 3:30 p.m. and fly out of RDU at 6:35 p.m.
—Jordan Schrader, jschrader@newsobserver.com
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published June 24, 2021 at 8:15 AM.
