There are more questions than answers about the new Covid-19 variant called Omicron first identify Thursday of the South African Health Minister. However, with the World Health Organization notification Friday Omicron is a “disturbing variant” and vaccine maker Moderna added it poses “significant potential risk”, alarm bells are ringing in the United States and around the world about the dangers of: What it could mean for all of us.
This new variant may simply be a continuation of a similar battle against Covid-19 that began in early 2020. But vaccine makers say it’s likely our vaccine won’t. effective against Omicron. Are we in danger of going back to being one-on-one against the pandemic?
While we await more details from scientists, it’s time for President Joe Biden and his administration to deliver a master class on how to lead effectively and honestly in the face of… with a potential new crisis.
Biden has stepped on that front, notification just hours after the South African Health Minister announced the new variant, flights were banned from 7 African countries where the variant was spreading (in contrast, in early 2020, the former President Donald Trump waited until after 45 other countries forbidden flights from China – as the virus has spread there – to impose a ban on flights from that country into the United States).
From here, Biden should hold regular press conferences to keep Americans updated on new developments, and as when he first took office, these coronaviruses. briefings should be led by health professionals who can provide science-based information to a desired country. But Biden should get there himself to show Americans that he’s in charge, and above all this. In a crisis, Americans look to the President to lead. In fact, in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, then President Trump saw his approval rating rise when Americans rallied around him in the face of crisis.
But the highlight in the polls for Trump is short-lived. There’s no doubt Trump’s plummeting approval rating is cause by his lies and misinformation about the virus, even suggesting that eat in “disinfectant” to defeat it. Trump also chose to literally model dangerous behavior during the pandemic ridicule people wearing masks and constantly organize events violate social distancing guidelines at a time when there is no vaccine to protect us.
PolitiFact summary delivered Trump’s overall message on the deadly pandemic: “The threat to your health has been greatly exaggerated to damage the president’s political fortunes.”
Even with Trump out of office, we received a reminder on Friday of Trump-style lies about the virus from former Trump adviser Stephen Miller. While on Fox News, Miller declare if Trump is still in office, “We’ve got a modified vaccine to deal with the new variant.”
Obviously, that was a lie. This variant was only announced for the first time on Thursday and the vaccine manufacturers explain Friday, it will take about two weeks to study Omicron. From there, if all goes well, it will take about six weeks to tailor their vaccine, hopefully 100 days later.”reformat“vaccines could be deployed.
If Trump is in office – given his track record – he will more than likely dismiss the new variant as “fake news”, or at least demoted, if he feels it will harm him. him or the GOP politically.
But the standard for Biden’s leadership does not – and cannot – simply get better than a failed, one-term President.
Biden shouldn’t hesitate to expose confusing facts to the public. He should also announce plans now for how he will quickly deliver newly-refined Omicron vaccines into weapons, if needed, the same way his administration has done with vaccines. please initially after he took office. (Reminder: When Biden took office, the Trump administration averaged More than 700,000 vaccines are administered every day. Biden expanded that to an average of more than three million vaccines per day within a few months before numbers fell).
This is not about politics but about saving our lives, and our economy. It is time for President Biden to show Americans effective leadership, based on science and compassion. It’s a crisis like this that explains why Americans chose Joe Biden as president.
.
