President Joe Biden addressed the nation on Thursday on his plans to combat COVID for the winter months ahead, making it clear that the United States does not plan to reimpose lockdowns or expand the administration's current vaccination requirements in the wake of the new Omicron variant.
"We're going to fight this variant with science and speed, not chaos and confusion, just like we beat back COVID-19 in the spring and more powerful Delta variant in the summer and fall," Biden told White House reporters in remarks Thursday. "As a result, we enter this winter from a position of strength compares to where America was last winter."
"My plan that I'm announcing today pulls no punches in the fight against COVID-19. And it's a plan that I think should unite us," Biden said, highlighting the plan does not include "shutdown or lockdowns," but instead "wide spread vaccinations and boosters," as well as a lot more testing.
The White House's plan includes five key actions the administration is putting into effect in order to fight COVID as Americans move towards more indoor gatherings during the colder months ahead.
The first being an overall expansion of the nation's booster campaign, including more outreach, appointments, and flexible hours at vaccination sites in effort to encourage the 100 million Americans who are eligible to get their booster. The White House also plans to work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to contact more than 63 million people who are on medicare, which includes many seniors, to remind them to get an additional shot.
Secondly, the Biden administration is launching new family vaccination clinics to make it easier for whole families to all get vaccinated in one convenient place. The plan also provides new policies in effort to keep children in school for in-person learning, including testing frequently when positive cases pop up to allow the kids who test negative to stay in the classroom.
Third, the White House is making free at-home COVID diagnostic tests more available and covered by private insurance plans. The administration will also distribute 50 million free tests to health centers and other clinics for uninsured Americans, according to Biden.
Next, the administration is increasing the nation's "Surge Response Teams," that being emergency medical staff for communities with rising cases and understaffed hospitals. Biden plans to triple the available teams from 20 to 60 to be ready to deploy to states that experience infection surges this winter. Also, the administration plans to increase the availability of new treatments, including monoclonal antibodies and antiviral pills, once they are cleared by federal drug regulators.
Lastly, the U.S. is increasing its international vaccine delivery to more countries, pledging to deliver 200 million more doses within the next 100 days to help provide more than 1.2 billion shots to other nations.
In addition to the White House's winter COVID response plan, the administration is also requiring all inbound travelers to test for COVID within one day of departure, regardless of their vaccination status, in order to control the spread of the new, highly mutated Omicron variant. The U.S. is also expanding its mask mandate for both international and domestic passengers on aircraft, train, and other public transportation through the winter months.
Biden said his COVID response team is also working with officials at Pfizer
