President Biden revved up the COVID-19 booster campaign Tuesday by rolling up his sleeve for a pre-winter shot and prodding Americans to get their own at pharmacies and special clinics across the country.
Mr. Biden tied the campaign directly to the holidays and cooler temperatures, betting that the new boosters will produce a healthy Thanksgiving and Christmas period.
“This virus is constantly changing,” Mr. Biden said. “People will spend more time indoors and contagious viruses like COVID are going to spread considerably more easily.”
Mr. Biden didn’t wince as the shot entered his left arm. He fielded questions on a variety of topics from reporters during the process, saying he will leave future vaccine mandates to local leaders.
But the president did call on every school district, college, and university in America to host at least one vaccination clinic by Thanksgiving. He also pushed employers to offer paid time off for vaccination or worksite vaccine clinics and said pharmacy executives who joined him at the White House are offering coupons to people who get their shots.
Mr. Biden hopes the reformulated boosters will keep dominant variants in check and stave off the disease around the holidays.
“This year is different from the past. This year nearly every death is preventable,” he said. “Get your updated COVID shot.”
The White House will launch a VaxUpAmerica Family Vaccine Tour in which administration officials will encourage whole families starting Wednesday to get their shots together at community sites and pop-up clinics.
It is also launching a series of ads around the new boosters, including:
• Ads will target Black and Hispanic audiences in more than 30 markets in English and Spanish.
• Football- and country music-themed radio ads will be aimed at reaching rural communities in 15 local markets.
• Print, radio, digital, and social ads will run in 25 markets to reach Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander audiences in seven languages.
• Social and digital ads will run on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat and Reddit.
Drugmakers Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna recently retooled the COVID-19 vaccines for the first time since the pandemic began.
The new shots target both the original strain of the virus discovered in China and the BA.4 and BA.5 variants that are most commonly circulating in the U.S. right now.
Scientists think an updated booster might be an annual rite moving forward, akin to the flu shot that is designed annually to match circulating and/or anticipated strains. The U.S. averaged over 30,000 flu deaths per year in the decade before the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. is recording under 40,000 COVID-19 cases per day, though many positive tests aren’t reported. Hospitalizations are relatively low, with 26,000 people hospitalized in the U.S. on an average day, but that could spike again as temperatures cool.
Hospitalizations were twice as high around this time last year and the omicron variant slammed the U.S. around Thanksgiving, causing a surge in infections.
Mr. Biden’s team was caught flat-footed by the omicron surge last year and failed to ensure an adequate supply of tests around the holidays.
The White House set up a postal-service system that mailed tests for free but paused the program in recent months and blamed Congress for a lack of funding.
On Tuesday, he noted that insurance companies are required to reimburse people for COVID-19 tests they buy.
Still, the combination of acquired immunity through prior infection and vaccination — plus the refined boosters — have Mr. Biden hoping for a better winter this time.
Some Americans have balked at the vaccines out of fear of side effects or complaints the shots do not prevent transmission outright, though Mr. Biden highlighted them as a bulwark against serious illness. He also pointed to antiviral treatments like Paxlovid for persons who still get sick.
The retooled booster has been available since around Labor Day. Federal data show a little over 20 million of the retooled boosters have been administered so far in a country of about 330 million people, though some people may be waiting for later in the year.
“Get vaccinated. update your COVID vaccine,” Mr. Biden said. “The truth is not enough people are getting it. We have to change that.”
Mr. Biden recovered from COVID-19 in midsummer, and scientists say a person should wait three months after clearing the virus because getting another shot.
The CDC recently expanded the use of the new booster to younger groups, including the Pfizer shot for ages 5 and older and the Moderna shots for 6 and up.
Mr. Biden outlined steps to thwart COVID-19 two weeks before midterm voters weigh in at the polls.
Topics like inflation and abortion have eclipsed the virus as a leading political issue but the Republican National Committee said it believes voters will associate lengthy lockdowns with Democratic leaders and punish them in November.
“Voters won’t forget how Democrats closed schools, shut down businesses, and forced mandates on families,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said. “Democrats’ COVID theater and fear-mongering was never about safety, it was about power. Fortunately, in two weeks voters will shut down Democrats’ one-party rule.”
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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