|
 Biden, a Democrat, took office in January pledging to get the
coronavirus under control. He presided over a massive vaccine
rollout and passed a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, a sharp
contrast with his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, who
downplayed the pandemic's severity, dismissed many preventive
measures and undermined health experts.
Eleven months into Biden's term, however, the United States has
recorded 800,000 COVID-19 deaths, over 300,000 of those on his
watch, the highest total and per capita of the Group of Seven (G70
wealthiest nations. As the Omicron variant bears down and people
gather for the holiday season, hospitals in some areas are seeing
record high numbers of COVID-19 patients.
Biden's vaccination push has led to 65.2 percent of the eligible
population being fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. Republican-led opposition means that
figure is less than 50% on some states. Less than 30% of the
population has an additional booster shot believed necessary protect
against Omicron.
The administration needs to push mask wearing, increase pressure on
companies to bring down the cost of tests, share technology on
vaccines globally and secure more funding to fight the pandemic on a
broad scale, health experts said. Many said the White House had let
such measures slide while focusing on getting people inoculated.
"Where's the leadership that asks for national sacrifice at a time
of emergency?" said Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of
epidemiology at Yale University. Biden should "get on TV tonight and
say: 'I want you to mask up.'" he said.
The White House has repeatedly said it has the tools to fight
Omicron without shutting schools and businesses, while promising
more free tests and widespread booster distribution.
Biden will speak on Tuesday about new plans, including driving home
his message to unvaccinated Americans to get a shot and for those
who are vaccinated to get a booster.
Broadway theaters, universities and professional sports leagues are
already canceling or postponing events, reflecting the reality of a
new COVID-19 wave.
UGLY U.S. POLITICS ON COVID
Biden's toughest challenge fighting the pandemic has been political.
Despite the abundance of free and safe vaccines, misinformation
spread through social media platforms and pushback on health
measures, driven largely by Republican politicians and conservative
media, have thwarted his efforts to persuade pockets of the U.S.
population to get vaccinated.
The administration vowed early on to crack down on private companies
spreading vaccine-related misinformation, but it persists.
"I think they underestimated the fact that the anti-vaccine movement
was first and foremost a political movement," said Dr. Peter Hotez,
dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College
of Medicine. A leading killer of young and middle-aged adults in the
United States is "anti-science aggression from the far right," he
said.
The White House has sought to depoliticize the issue, sending health
officials onto Fox News, even as the cable channel's conservative
commentators sow doubt about vaccines and masks.
[to top of second column] |
 Despite their sometimes
significant differences, the White House sees
Fox News as an important outlet to disseminate
public health information, including on Biden’s
Omicron strategy, a White House official said.
The president has sparred with Republican
governors whose policies clash with his. More
recently, his rhetoric has been less political,
focused directly on urging people to get a shot.
On Thursday, he sounded a grim warning,
predicting a winter of "severe illness and
death" for those who are unvaccinated.
TEST, MASK SUPPLIES AN ISSUE
Biden said earlier this month the government would require private
health insurers to reimburse their 150 million customers for the
cost of over-the-counter, at-home COVID-19 tests and make 50 million
tests available free through rural clinics and health centers for
the uninsured.
Critics call that insufficient.
"There's more uninsured Americans than that, and what we were only
supposed to take one rapid test ever? These policies are completely
inadequate," said Angela Rasmussen, an American virologist at the
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of
Saskatchewan in Canada.
Surging demand for COVID-19 tests from U.S.
employers bringing employees back to work exacerbated a nationwide
shortage of rapid tests in the fall, driving up costs for state and
local testing programs.
The recent spike in cases has led to long testing lines across the
country and left Americans scrambling to secure at-home tests at
pharmacies and online. The White House said there are tens of
thousands of free testing sites across the country, the supply of
at-home tests has quadrupled, and a dozen new rapid tests have been
authorized to come to the market.
"We’re working with governors and state and local health officials
to add more capacity," a White House official said. "We’re also
working with manufacturers to expand capacity."
Former CDC Director Tom Frieden told Reuters the administration also
needs to step up the promotion of mask wearing and that subsidizing
the costs of masks or distributing them could help.
"Masks ... and vaccination are by far the two most important
interventions, and it's still far too hard for someone to find out
the quality of a mask they're buying, to get masks at a reasonable
price. It's still too much of a Wild West out there in terms of the
market," he said.
The Omicron variant that is prolonging the global crisis may not be
the last, as vast majorities of people in less-developed nations
remain unvaccinated, giving the virus room to mutate.
Experts said the Biden administration could have done more to get
vaccines to the rest of the world, protecting other populations and
Americans as well.
"There's been sort of an ongoing battle with the White House to do
more," said Gonsalves, noting the new Omicron variant came from
abroad.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Julie Steenhuysen
and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Heather Timmons)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content |
