Biden’s winter plan to fight Covid doesn’t include lockdowns [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• President Joe Biden said Thursday he doesn’t want lockdowns to fight Covid during the winter.
• The president added that the plan does not include expanding the current vaccine mandates.
• Biden said his administration plans to focus more on booster shots and more testing.

President Joe Biden on Thursday revealed his plan to fight Covid during the winter months. It will not include new lockdowns and there will be no expansion of the current federal vaccine mandates.

“It doesn’t include shutdowns or lockdowns, but widespread vaccinations and boosters and testing a lot more,” Biden told reporters.

“And while my existing federal vaccination requirements are being reviewed by the courts, this plan does not expand or add to those mandates — a plan that all Americans hopefully can rally around, and it should get bipartisan support, in my humble opinion,” the president added.

Part of winter’s Covid-fighting plan is to increase the number of people who can get booster shots. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will contact the more than 60 million people who are on Medicare, mostly seniors, to remind them to get an additional shot.

Unveiling the plan comes after reports of at least two cases of the new omicron variant were detected in California and Minnesota this week. U.S. Health officials and experts around the world are concerned that the new variant could be more transmissible than delta.

It is not yet determined if omicron, which has some 50 mutations, can evade protection from vaccines.

Some European countries have already imposed restrictions on public life to combat a new wave of Covid infection. Austria has announced a full lockdown, the Netherlands is pushing businesses to close early, and Germany is banning unvaccinated people from most businesses.

Biden said Thursday schools will remain open. The administration will launch hundreds of family vaccination clinics around the U.S. to make it easier for parents to immunize their kids.

The plan also includes an expansion of free at-home Covid testing. Americans with private insurance will be reimbursed for the tests, and the administration will distribute 50 million free tests to health centers and rural clinics for people who are uninsured or underserved, according to the president.

The president said the administration doesn’t believe additional measures are needed at the moment. He added that his team is “already working with officials at Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson to develop contingency plans for other vaccines or boosters” if they’re needed to fight omicron.

“We are in a better position than we were a year ago to fight Covid-19,” Biden said.

Source: CNBC