President Joe Biden declared that the coronavirus pandemic is "over", surprising many health experts as the White House continues efforts to secure additional funding to combat the spread of the virus and launches a new booster shot campaign ahead of the fall and winter seasons.

"The pandemic is over," Biden said in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday. "We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lotta work on it. But, the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one's wearing masks; everybody seems to be in pretty good shape."

Biden's remarks surprised health experts, with the White House's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci telling The Washington Post in an interview Monday that while he agrees with the President that the United States is better off than it was a few months ago, "we still have a lot of work to do to get [COVID infections and deaths] down to a low enough level that we feel comfortable with."

"I'm not comfortable with 400 deaths per day," Fauci added.

However, Biden's statements reflect growing public sentiment that the worst of the pandemic, and its impacts on daily life, are behind us. According to a recent Axios-Ipsos survey, 46% of Americans polled have returned to their pre-pandemic lives. Moreover, 65% of those surveyed gauge return to their normal life will have little to no impact on their health.

Still, 65% of those polled disagree with the President on his statement that the pandemic is over.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director Dr. Tedra Adhanom Ghebreyesus said similar comments to Biden last week that the end of the pandemic may be "in sight," but a lot more work needs to be done before nations can declare the pandemic as over.

"We can see the finish line," Tedros said in a press conference. "[But] now is the worst time to stop running. Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap all the rewards of our hard work."

The Biden administration has maintained that the virus's threat has lessened in recent months, but advocates for Americans to receive a booster shot ahead of the colder seasons as data shows infection rates are likely to spike as more people hold gatherings indoors. The White House has also lobbied Congress for billions of dollars to purchase more vaccines and COVID tests and treatments to keep the national infection, hospitalization and death rates low.

Currently, the U.S. is averaging about 54,000 infections per day, the lowest rate since late April following the Omicron-variant fueled spike early this year. However, that total is likely an undercount as it does not include infections discovered through in-home test kits.

Most health experts agree that COVID-19 will eventually become a seasonal virus tackled through an annual booster shot, similar to how the U.S. combats the influenza virus. By that point, COVID will be considered an endemic virus rather than a public health emergency.