“If you have to do it, you have to do it,” Biden told advisers separately as they discussed implementing the restrictions, which officials have said are not permanent and can be tweaked. when more information is available.
Officials were still discussing some of the next steps Tuesday night, when representatives from multiple agencies convened to consider tightening new screening rules for newly arrived international travelers, including including those who have been vaccinated. In the end, they decided to shorten the time for passengers to be screened before their flight to the US. The order is still under regulatory review on Wednesday and it is unclear when it will be implemented.
With the goal of navigating complex terrain to combat a little-known strain, Biden will make a 10-minute helicopter flight to the NIH to deliver what he says is a powerful strategy to fight the spread of Covid this winter without setting up new lockdowns or shutdowns. — politically toxic moves he hopes to avoid even as his administration works to stave off a new wave of spikes.
“We will fight this variation with science and speed, not chaos and confusion,” Biden said Wednesday ahead of his speech.
When Biden visited the NIH labs for the last time three weeks after taking office, his guide provided him with some good news: The newly authorized Covid-19 vaccine will work against infectious diseases. variant of coronavirus.
Dr. Barney Graham, lab chief and deputy director of the Center for Vaccine Research at the NIH, told Biden as he pointed out: “It might eventually lose its effectiveness, but I think we’re fine – until as additional mutations accumulate. image of a red spot virus on his computer screen.
“The goal is to map out his plan for the winter to make sure we’re taking all the steps we can to protect against Delta, Omicron, and any other variants we might face. face,” said a senior administration official.
Biden will lay out the strategy without many specifics about Omicron itself, which government scientists say could take weeks to better understand. The plan he and his team have rolled out now includes a renewed drive for immunization and renewed urgency in promoting booster shots, which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. has officially appealed to all adults starting this week.
Learn from Delta
Delta has taken power in the US and sparked a return to mask-wearing rules and other restrictions after Biden sought to signal the pandemic was coming to an end – a change that corresponded with a drop in ratings. approval of the President. Privately, many of Biden’s allies are amused by the White House’s early handling of Delta, including the President’s message as the variation spreads.
“Certainly, they can apply the lessons learned and improve messaging around the virus,” a Democratic strategist told CNN. “But what they really need is not to need to communicate about the virus, which has proven difficult to control or detect.”
Biden’s top advisers determined over the long Thanksgiving weekend that acknowledging the uncertainty, while still preparing the country for the potential arrival of Omicron, was the best course of action. Top health officials have held “non-stop” meetings and calls since being alerted to major concerns about the variant, an administration official said.
Officials have also pointed to clearer enhanced instructions as a welcome boon to their messaging efforts.
This week, Biden delivered his most honest appeal: If you’ve been fully vaccinated since June 1, it’s time for another dose. There has been deep frustration within the administration over the convoluted messages surrounding booster injections, with several officials admitting to CNN that initial restrictions on who should receive one and when only causing confusion when it is clear that the exemption has expired for all age groups. Now, the CDC is urging all American adults to use boosters.
Dr Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute and professor of molecular medicine, told CNN: “The augmented messaging is horrible. “It was clear weeks ago that everyone needed a boost.”
It remains to be seen whether the US government will change its definition of full immunization.
Although some are in favor of changing it to a three-prong, as other countries have done, the administration is not currently considering doing so, according to two officials, in part because of concerns about it, according to two officials. could disrupt ongoing court battles over Biden’s vaccine mandates.
Biden wants to aim for optimism but Omicron looms
That makes the new variant an unwelcome development for a President whose success will ultimately be determined by whether he can contain the pandemic. His advisers have seen beating Covid as the number one way to restore his weakened political position and erase lingering economic troubles, like inflation.
“I think they feel they have an urgent need to address this issue for the sake of appeasement,” said David Axelrod, a senior White House adviser to President Barack Obama and senior political commentator for CNN. people and give people the feeling that he’s at the top.” . “If you look at some of the language he uses in terms of how he throws things at it and they don’t leave stones and so forth, that’s clearly a motivator.”
The Republican National Committee has attacked Biden for “failing to kill the virus as he promised,” and other Republicans have begun to criticize his response to the new – often offensive, variant. misread.
Highlighting the risks to Biden, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers on Tuesday that the Omicron variant threatens the US economic recovery.
The White House has said it doesn’t expect to have to rethink his travel plans or list of upcoming holiday parties due to the new variant – at least while many of its properties remain unknown.
After learning of the new Thanksgiving Day strain, officials sped up meetings, phone calls and video conferences to align their science and messaging efforts in the doorway. narrow exists to control fallout. But even among White House aides, news of a new, potentially more virulent strain of bacteria was met with weary patience.
“It’s a collective ‘ugh’,” one official said.
News of the new variant came around the holiday, when the White House and federal public health officials were spread at family gatherings around the country. Speaking to NBC’s Al Roker from a cream-colored living room at the beachfront mansion where he is staying on Nantucket, Biden heralded the relative normalcy of this year’s holiday.
“After two years, you’re back. America is back. There’s nothing we can’t get over, Al,” he said as he watched himself on the flat-screen television.
The next morning, he was briefed by Dr. Anthony Fauci and other officials by phone for about 30 minutes about the variant and followed by several phone calls with members of his Covid response team. As he strolled through the quaint downtown shops of the island that afternoon, he acknowledged uncertainty about the potential threat.
“We don’t know much about the variant except that it’s getting a lot of attention; it seems to be spreading rapidly,” he said on the rain-brick pavement.
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