US President Joe Biden has thanked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, headquartered in Atlanta, for their role in fighting against the coronavirus in the United States on Friday. 

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are currently in Atlanta to meet with Asian-American leaders after the deadly shootout which killed eight people, six of whom were women of Asian descent. 

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While giving his brief remarks Biden said, “We owe you a gigantic debt of gratitude, and we will for a long, long, long time, because, I hope this is the beginning of the end of not paying attention to what’s going to come again and again and again and again.”

He added, “We can build all the walls and we can get the most powerful armies in the world — we cannot stop, we cannot stop these viruses, other than be aware where they are and move quickly on them when we find them.”

He referred to the COVID-19 stimulus bill while talking about the mass public support it has garnered. He said, “I just want you to have some confidence that it’s not only the vice president, I, and the whole team, the whole Covid team writ large, committed, but the American people have moved. The American people have moved, this is a bipartisan effort now.”

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Biden also mentioned the lack of Republican support the stimulus package received in Congress. Democrats ultimately had to pass the bill through a simple majority. 

“Well, we didn’t get any help in the Senate or the House, but there’s 55% of a Republicans in America supporting it, you have 90-something% of the Democrats, 80-something—the point is, the public is thankful to you because it’s about science, that’s what they understand they understand,” reported CNN. 

Lauding CDC, Biden said in his closing remarks, “You’ve changed things, you’ve changed them in a way that are going to make everybody healthier in this country. And when we have a crisis, you’re prepared to meet it. Because you speak truth and science to power.”

Following Biden’s speech, Vice President Kamala Harris while praising CDC said, “You all are a model for the world around what can be done based on a pursuit of that which will uplift and improve human condition in life.”