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 The United States, which leads the world in COVID-19 cases and
deaths, is struggling to stem a wave of infections driven by the
variant even as officials try to persuade Americans who have
resisted vaccination to get the shots. Rising caseloads have raised
concerns as children head back to school, while also rattling
investors and upending company return-to-office plans.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters traveling with
Biden aboard Air Force One that he will lay out the strategy
"working across the public and private sectors to help continue to
get the pandemic under control."
Asked about possible new mandates, Psaki said the White House would
offer more details later about the plan and acknowledged that the
federal government cannot broadly mandate that Americans get
vaccinated.
"We need to continue to take more steps to make sure school
districts are prepared and make sure communities across the country
are prepared," Psaki added.
A White House official familiar with the plan said it would touch on
mandates, testing, and schools. "There is a path out," the official
said, noting a sense of hopelessness by some in the country about
the pandemic.
The official added the private sector could do more on the issue and
that Biden would take on vaccine hesitancy as well.
On Wednesday, Biden is scheduled to meet with White House COVID-19
advisers.
The United States has recorded roughly 650,000 COVID-19 deaths and
last week exceeded 40 million cases. Reuters data shows that more
than 20,800 people have died in the United States from COVID-19 in
the past two weeks, up about 67% from the prior two-week period.
Hospitalizations have grown, with seven U.S. states - Alaska,
Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Tennessee and Washington -
reporting records this month.
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 Biden previously announced
plans to offer booster shots more widely,
pending regulatory approval. His chief medical
adviser Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said officials
are still aiming to do so starting the week of
Sept. 20.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers are
scheduled to meet on Sept. 17 to consider a
possible third shot of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech
SE's two-dose vaccine, the only COVID-19 vaccine
yet to receive full approval from the agency.
Fauci told CNN Pfizer's third shot appears
likely to be rolled out first, with Moderna
Inc's version "close behind." Moderna has sought
full FDA approval of its two-dose vaccine.
Booster doses are already approved by U.S.
regulators for people with compromised immune
systems.
U.S. officials have said they expect vaccines to
be approved for children younger than 12 this
winter. With U.S. students already starting a
new school year, battles over public health
efforts, including mandates that pupils wear
masks erupted in many places across the country.
In the private sector, increasing numbers of
U.S. employers have imposed vaccine mandates for
employees. The Biden administration has hailed
efforts by businesses, universities and others
to bolster vaccinations.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), 62.3% of Americans
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-total-admin-rate-total
have received at least one vaccine dose and 53%
- 176 million people - are fully vaccinated.
Counting the population eligible for vaccines -
people 12 and older - 72.9% have received at
least one dose and 62% are fully vaccinated,
according to the CDC.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Jeff Mason in
Washington and Nadita Bose aboard Air Force One;
Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Will Dunham
and Aurora Ellis)
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