Biden’s multi-pronged approach with a focus on expanding vaccinations to the rest of Americans who have resisted vaccinations, and providing boosters to an already eligible population is everything. adults. He’s also changing international travel rules to require tests closer to arrival in the United States.
However, he is stopping imposing school or business closures, removing them as he works to sustain the country’s economic recovery.
“It’s not about shutdowns or shutdowns, but widespread vaccinations, and boosters, testing and more,” Biden said at the start of his remarks.
He acknowledged the number of cases is likely to increase in the coming weeks, as the weather gets colder in many countries and people begin to gather indoors more. He noted that his proposed mandate for vaccination among major employers is currently tied up in court, precluding any new mandate in his winter strategy.
And he lamented the politicization of anti-Covid measures that public health experts recommend, saying it was a “sad, sad comment” that steps like wearing masks and vaccinations have become obsolete. an ugly divisive object.
Biden’s speech, delivered from the National Institutes of Health campus in Maryland, comes as cases of the Omicron variant are just beginning to emerge in the United States and countries around the world imposing restrictions on strict new restrictions on travel and activity.
Biden touted actions like travel restrictions from southern Africa that he said had given his administration time to prepare and vowed to fight the new variant “with science and speed, not chaos.” confusion and confusion.”
But he said it was inevitable that cases would arise in the United States, preparing Americans for the continued presence of Covid for the foreseeable future.
“Experts say Covid-19 cases will continue to rise in the coming weeks and winter this year,” he said. “So we need to be ready.”
Biden spoke a day after officials confirmed the first recorded case of the Omicron variant in the United States, in California. A second case was detected in Minnesota on Thursday.
Any foreign nationals arriving in the US must be fully immunized, although there is still no vaccination requirement for US citizens traveling by air, globally or domestically.
The administration also announced steps to increase immunization rates among children in an effort to keep schools open and protect children aged 5 and older from contracting Covid-19.
“To date, we have vaccinated more than 4 million children aged 5 to 11 and 15 million adolescents. Vaccinating our children protects them, keeps schools open and protects everyone. around them,” the White House detailed in a fact sheet shared with reporters Wednesday.
As part of those efforts, the administration will be opening a “family vaccination room” that will deliver vaccines and boosters to the whole family at once, with the Health Services and Resources Administration. Health organization organizes “Family Vaccination Day” at participating community health centers nationwide, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency offers mobile vaccination clinics to reach hard-to-reach communities .
The government is also issuing a “Safe School Checklist” so schools can safely encourage immunization and booster efforts and avoid outbreaks in schools through new guidance from the government. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on isolation and testing.
Biden announced further actions to export vaccines, including 200 million more doses in the next 100 days, speeding up deliveries to high-risk countries, and ramping up vaccine production to increase production capacity. global production force.
The President’s announcement also details new steps to ramp up Covid testing, including requiring private insurers to reimburse the costs of at-home testing for more than 150 million Americans. In addition, community sites such as rural health centers and clinics will offer free home testing to those not covered by private insurance, doubling their commitment in September to offer free home testing. grants 25 million free tests to community sites to 50 million tests.
The President announced more than 60 winter Covid-19 emergency response teams deployed to states to combat outbreaks and spikes in Covid-19 cases nationwide, expanding the program from summer to fall. .
“Response teams have helped 27 states and two territories respond to Delta’s rise by addressing critical real-world needs,” the senior administration official told reporters Wednesday. .
“To date, we have deployed more than 2,000 employees, increased more than 3,200 ventilators and other supplies, and shipped more than 2.3 million life-saving monoclonal antibody treatments. Faced with new variants and increased cases in the winter months tomorrow, the President will renew the federal government’s commitment to help with the surges and help our states, The official added.
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