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Biden Unveils New Strategy to Curb Omicron Variant
Posted
December 21, 2021
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795
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December 21, 2021
795
12
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3.77%
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3:48Now PlayingPresident Joe Biden said that the omicron variant of the coronavirus will result in more breakthrough infections among vaccinated Americans -- “potentially in large numbers” -- but that they are very unlikely to be severely ill.
Especially for people with booster shots, he said in a speech at the White House Tuesday, a breakthrough infection mostly likely will mean “no symptoms” or mild disease. He said the vaccinated should proceed with Christmas plans.
Biden noted that former President Donald Trump has publicly revealed having received a booster -- “maybe one of the few things he and I agree on,” he said. For the unvaccinated, however, the president warned that a winter of severe illness and death awaits.
“We should all be concerned about omicron -- but not panicked,” Biden said. “If you’re fully vaccinated, and especially if you got your booster shot, you are highly protected. And if you’re unvaccinated, you’re at a higher risk of getting severely ill of Covid-19, getting hospitalized and even die. So the best thing to do is to get fully vaccinated and get your booster shot.”
Biden and the White House have sought to counter perceptions the administration was caught flat-footed by the rapid advance of omicron, which has quickly become the dominant U.S. strain. Complaints about shortages of coronavirus tests are widespread, and Biden acknowledged that the country is “not where we should be,” though he said he had used wartime powers to advance the production of a billion more test kits.
“It’s not enough. We have to do more, we have to do better -- and we will,” he said. “I don’t think anyone anticipated that this would be as rapidly spreading as it is.”
Unanticipated demand for tests, he said, has stretched supplies. “All of a sudden it was like everybody rushed to the counter.”
The president outlined a new strategy to curb omicrom, including ordering 500 million at-home tests to ship free to Americans. He also said he’ll dispatch 1,000 members of the military to support hospitals and set up new testing and vaccination sites.
Biden also encouraged schools, many of which have recently chosen to close early for the holidays after outbreaks among students and staff, to adopt so-called “test-to-stay” strategies to keep children in class.
“We can keep our K through 12 schools open, that’s exactly what we should be doing,” he said. “K through 12 schools should be open” and should require all adults working within them to be vaccinated, he said.
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