United States President-elect Joe Biden has said that “people may die” if Donald Trump continues to obstruct the transition to his incoming administration.
Speaking in his home state of Delaware, Biden called Trump’s refusal to concede that he lost the Presidential election “totally irresponsible”, according to BBC.
Biden won 306 electoral college votes in the election, with 270 required to win the presidency but the Trump campaign is continue to push a narrative that the elections were marred by voter fraud and that the incumbent president is the legitimate winner. Biden, however, says that this could cost people their lives, given that his administration would need to carry out the “huge, huge undertaking” to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine, which will be released to at the end of the year.
“Does anyone understand this? It’s about saving lives, for real, this is not hyperbole,” Biden said about Trump stalling the transition. “More people may die if we don’t coordinate.”
“This is not a game,” former first lady Michelle Obama wrote on social media.
Biden also said that if his administration had to wait until Inauguration Day on 20 January, they will have fallen “over a month, month and a half” behind on their efforts.
Biden said that he would ask officials to encourage mask wearing but side-stepped questions about whether he would ask state leaders to reinstate stay-at-home orders.
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