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Joe Biden (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Now that the Omicron variant is sweeping throughout the nation, President Joe Biden determined to present a press convention on the newest developments. Today’s (Jan. 4) briefing began with updates on the continued work towards controlling the extremely contagious – however not as lethal or extreme – virus. The major agenda for this briefing seemed to be a robust push for individuals to get vaccinated in addition to get boosters.
The president mentioned there’s a continued rise in instances, “much different than anything we’ve seen before.” Throughout the briefing, Biden repeated the necessity for everybody to get vaccinated however did permit that even totally inoculated individuals can nonetheless get the virus. “Be concerned about Omicron,” he mentioned, “but don’t be alarmed.” Seeming to contradict himself, he went on to threaten: “If you’re not vaccinated, you should be alarmed,” including:
“There’s no excuse for anyone being unvaccinated. This continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Surround your kids with those who are vaccinated.”
Joe Biden (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Schools, Biden steered, ought to nonetheless stay open, “kids are safe in schools.” The authorities has offered $130 billion to states to assist in-person training proceed and a further $10 billion for testing.
Biden continued praising the continuing course of to get COVID below management. Military has been deployed to assist overworked medical employees, and FEMA is on standby to offer beds the place wanted.
There have been three “updates” he wished to emphasize:
Booster photographs: “We have booster shots for every American in the country,” the president asserted. Mimicking Dr. Anthony Fauci, he mentioned booster photographs work, as a result of Fauci says so. The Food and Drug Administration has authorized them for kids ages 12 to fifteen, which shall be out there as early as subsequent week.
Testing: This is a tough space. While the president extols the various testing websites out there for Americans, some states have seen these providers hobbled by overwhelming numbers of individuals in search of a take a look at.
Biden additionally assured that beginning subsequent week, insurance coverage firms will reimburse anybody who makes use of an at-home take a look at, though many firms don’t settle for the outcomes as legitimate sufficient to allow a return to work. There was a scarcity of at-home exams in retail shops and pharmacies, which the president assured was solely non permanent. In the meantime, he defined authorities providers and well being care suppliers supply free testing and introduced a brand new web site, set to launch this month, that may give individuals the flexibility to request take a look at kits delivered to their houses. In the meantime, the commander-in-chief steered doing a Google search to search out out extra data.
Treatment: Testing and vaccinations apart, there’s hope {that a} new Pfizer capsule will assist to scale back hospitalizations and deaths. Biden mentioned he ordered a cargo of 10 million drugs and has now doubled that order. “We’ve already placed the largest order in the world, and now I’m increasing that order,” he declared. The drawback, nonetheless, is that “it takes months, literally, to make a pill.”
Today’s temporary speech didn’t deliver a lot of something new to the desk. As ordinary, the president didn’t take any questions from the reporters. He did, nonetheless, finish his speech with this pearl: “There’s a lot of reason to be hopeful in 2020 (sic).”
~ Read extra from Kelli Ballard.
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