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WASHINGTON — Coronavirus lockdowns will not be happening while the Trump Administration is still in the White House, says Vice President Mike Pence.

Your former governor of Indiana heads up the White House task force to respond to the pandemic. In a briefing on Thursday, Pence said the White in no way supports locking down and shutting down the economy in order to stop the spread of the virus.

“This administration and our president does not support another national lockdown, and we do not support closing schools,” Pence said. “Actually, the CDC never recommended closing schools at any point this year.”

Though the Centers for Disease Control has not technically given an opinion recommending schools be closed at any point during the pandemic, the CDC has in the past put forth guidelines for closing schools “in places where closures are necessary.”

Pence assured those at the briefing that the American people know what to do this time in order to stop the spread, saying the nation is approaching this second surge in the virus with “a confidence of experience.”

“With PPE and medical supplies and equipment that are available to the American people, with the medicines and the therapeutics and very soon the vaccines that are available, America has never been more prepared to combat this virus than we are today,” Pence added.

He said the moment any viable vaccines get approval from the Federal Drug Administration they will begin shipping doses out to the American people. That plan would see frontline workers, long-term care facility workers, and residents, and other vulnerable populations getting first dibs on vaccines.

The task force plans to coordinate with state governors in getting the vaccines to where they need to go.

As of Thursday, more than 250,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. In Indiana, 4,889 people have died and the state’s overall positivity rate over the last seven days is 23.6-percent, which is the highest it’s ever been.