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President
Joe
Biden
speaks
about
the
COVID-19
variant
named
omicron
during a
visit to
the
National
Institutes
of
Health,
Thursday,
Dec. 2,
2021, in
Bethesda,
Md. (AP
Photo/Evan
Vucci) |
|
Pushing
COVID-19
boosters,
Biden
says 'we
need to
be
ready'
By
ZEKE
MILLER
and
ALEXANDRA
JAFFE
apnews.com
BETHESDA
- With
rising
numbers
of
COVID-19
cases
predicted
this
winter,
President
Joe
Biden on
Thursday
appealed
for
Americans
to get
their
boosters
and get
behind
his plan
to
tackle
the new
omicron
variant
through
wider
availability
of
vaccines
and
shots,
but
without
new
major
restrictions
on daily
life.
Biden
wants to
require
private
insurers
to cover
the cost
of
at-home
COVID-19
tests
and he
is
tightening
testing
requirements
for
people
entering
the
United
States,
regardless
of their
vaccination
status.
While
some
other
countries
are
closing
their
borders
or
reinstituting
lockdowns,
the
president
said he
would
not at
this
time
impose
additional
clampdowns
beyond
his
recommendation
that
Americans
wear
masks
indoors
in
public
settings.
“Experts
say the
COVID-19
cases
will
continue
to rise
in the
weeks
ahead
this
winter,
so we
need to
be
ready,”
Biden
said
during a
visit to
the
National
Institutes
of
Health
in
suburban
Maryland
after a
briefing
with
scientific
advisers.
He
said his
new
strategy
“doesn’t
include
shutdowns
and
lockdowns,”
and he
hoped
for
bipartisan
backing.
“My
plan I’m
announcing
today
pulls no
punches
in the
fight
against
COVID-19,
and it’s
a plan
that I
think
should
unite
us,” he
Biden
said.
Legal
challenges
have
held up
Biden’s
vaccination-or-testing
requirement
for
workers
at
larger
employers,
and
that’s
led the
president
to urge
businesses
to
impose
their
own
mandates
so
companies
can stay
open
without
outbreaks.
His
administration
has come
to view
widespread
adoption
of
booster
shots as
its most
effective
tool for
combating
COVID-19
this
winter.
Medical
experts
say
boosters
provide
enhanced
and more
enduring
protection,
including
against
new
variants.
Much
remains
unknown
about
the
omicron
variant,
such as
whether
it is
more
contagious,
makes
people
more
seriously
ill and
can
thwart
the
vaccines.
Officials
said
Thursday
that a
second
case of
the
variant
had been
confirmed
in the
United
States.
About
100
million
Americans
are
eligible
for
boosters
under
current
U.S.
policy,
with
more
becoming
eligible
every
day.
Officials
believe
that
persuading
the
vaccinated
to get
another
dose
will be
easier
than
vaccinating
the
roughly
43
million
adult
Americans
who
haven’t
gotten a
shot.
“Go
get your
booster
now,”
Biden
said.
Seniors
are in
the
population
most
vulnerable
to the
virus,
and the
Centers
for
Medicare
&
Medicaid
Services
will
send a
notice
to all
63
million
Medicare
beneficiaries
encouraging
them to
get
booster
doses,
the
White
House
said.
The AARP
will
work
with the
administration
on
education
campaigns
for
seniors.
So
far
about 42
million
Americans,
about
half of
them
seniors,
have
received
a
booster
dose.
The
Centers
for
Disease
Control
and
Prevention
this
week
broadened
its
booster
dose
recommendation
to cover
all
Americans
at least
age 18,
starting
six
months
after
their
second
dose of
the mRNA
vaccines
from
Pfizer
or
Moderna.
Biden
said the
CDC is
developing
new
guidance
for
schools
in an
effort
to
reduce
or
eliminate
current
quarantine
requirements
for
those
not
fully
vaccinated
and
exposed
to the
virus.
That
could
include
“test-to-stay”
policies,
in which
those
considered
close
contacts
can
continue
to go to
school
but wear
masks
and
undergo
serial
testing,
in an
effort
to
minimize
learning
loss and
disruption.
The
rule
that
private
insurers
cover
at-home
testing
is being
drafted,
and
details
remain
to be
worked
out,
officials
said.
People
insured
by
Medicare
and
Medicaid
would
not be
eligible,
but the
White
House
said as
many as
150
million
people
with
private
insurance
would
see
easier
and
cheaper
access
to the
at-home
tests.
The
administration
said it
is
making
50
million
COVID-19
tests
free for
older
people
and
other
vulnerable
groups
for
pickup
at
senior
centers
and
community
sites.
Beginning
next
week,
Biden
said,
all
travelers
to the
U.S.,
regardless
of
nationality
or
vaccination
status,
will
need to
provide
proof of
a
negative
COVID-19
test
within
one day
of
boarding
flights.
That
compares
with
three
days now
for
those
who have
been
vaccinated.
The
White
House
has
shelved
tougher
options
such as
requiring
post-arrival
testing
or
requiring
quarantines
upon
arrival
in the
U.S.
The
White
House
has not
yet
acted to
require
domestic
U.S.
travelers
to be
vaccinated
or get
tested.
Officials
believe
such a
requirement
would be
mired in
litigation.
“We
base our
decisions
on the
advice
of the
health
and
medical
experts,
what’s
going to
be most
effective
and what
we can
implement,”
press
secretary
Jen
Psaki
said
Thursday.
Biden is
extending
his
directive
requiring
masks on
airplanes
and
other
public
transit,
which
had been
set to
expire
in
January,
through
at least
the
middle
of
March,
the
White
House
said.
The
administration
is
informing
states
that it
has more
than 60
teams
available
to help
them or
their
municipalities
address
surges
in cases
and
public
health
shortages
heading
into the
winter.
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