‘We Can Prevent Nearly Every Death from COVID if People Get Their Updated Vaccines’
White House keeps focus on the pandemic
Despite much of the nation trying to move on from the past three years of COVID-19 infecting nearly 100 million of their neighbors — and killing nearly 1 million — the Biden White House is continuing to keep a spotlight on the progress of the disease.
The Biden administration focused heavily on trying to deploy the then-new vaccines against the deadly illness once in office in 2021.
In all, the United States has seen more than 99 cases of COVID, and just over 1 million deaths since the pandemic began in late 2019.
While COVID is no longer the sword hanging over American life that it once was, Americans should remain mindful, White House officials said Thursday.
“We’re in a different phase, as you’ve heard us say, in this pandemic, and we are going to encourage people to get that new vaccine. We have the tools. We have the tools that we know work when it comes to COVID, when it comes to this pandemic, and we’re going to continue to let folks know to utilize those tools,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “And so, you’ve seen, I started this briefing saying we’re seeing a familiar face in the press briefing room, and that’s because we’ve been trying to be very consistent on pushing that message out and letting people know that they need to get the new vaccine. It is important. We know it works.”
Americans should continue to avail themselves of everything from boosting themselves with the latest vaccines, to day-to-day mask-wearing, according to Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 response coordinator.
“But so far nationally, in our analysis of the data, death numbers are just beginning to rise. We obviously want to make sure that does not go any further,” Jha said in an appearance in the White House briefing room. “We know we can prevent nearly every death from COVID if people get their updated vaccines and people get treated. So, we continue to press that message.”
Meanwhile, in a separate appearance on CNN, Jha offered other advice, as well.
“You know, look, there’s a variety of tools that we have to keep infection numbers lower: testing, masking, vaccinations, treatments, improving indoor air quality. My point on this has been very clear: masks work, they help,” he said. “In crowded indoor spaces I wear a mask, and I think we should see them as one part of a list of tools that we have that can keep infections lower.”
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