As Europe confronted a brand new virus wave, Germany, Sweden, Portugal and Scotland imposed new restrictions on the motion and actions of their residents.
Omicron erupted at a precarious second for the president, who ran on a promise to curb the pandemic, solely to be confronted with a shape-shifting virus that’s now claiming greater than 1,000 American lives daily. Additionally it is a divisive political local weather wherein many People, significantly supporters of former President Donald J. Trump, have refused to get vaccinated.
In his remarks, Mr. Biden acknowledged the previous president, noting that Mr. Trump just lately mentioned he had obtained a booster shot, and that “because of the prior administration and the scientific neighborhood, America is likely one of the first nations to get the vaccine.”
However he additionally denounced the “harmful misinformation on cable TV and social media,” and corporations and personalities who have been “making a living by peddling lies and permitting misinformation that may kill their very own clients and their very own supporters.”
The president’s strikes construct on a winter pandemic technique that he introduced three weeks in the past, and replicate an consciousness contained in the White Home of the rising menace from the Omicron variant. However Mr. Biden grew defensive within the face of questions on whether or not he had not moved shortly sufficient, particularly in making certain that free assessments have been extensively out there.
“I don’t assume anyone anticipated this was going to unfold as quickly,” Mr. Biden mentioned, rejecting the characterization of his testing response as a failure. He mentioned that over the previous few days, “swiftly it was like everyone rushed to the counter.”
“It was a giant, massive rush,” he mentioned.
Simply two weeks in the past, Jen Psaki, the White Home press secretary, mocked the concept of sending a check to each American.