In an interview with ABC spokesman David Muir on Wednesday, Biden said that the country was in a better shape than last Christmas, but he said he wished he had ordered free at-home tests earlier in the week. Long lines and shortages around the country have been caused by a surge in demand for tests due to the new variant and the winter holidays.
The hospitals in many parts of the US are strained as Covid patients crowd emergency rooms and intensive care units.
We are nearly two years into the epidemic and a year into your presidency. Three days before Christmas is that good enough, empty shelves and no test kits in some places are three days before Christmas. Biden said nothing had been good enough. The president later said that I wish I had thought about ordering the 500 m at-home tests two months ago.
The interview follows Biden's announcement of a plan to send half a billion at-home coronaviruses test kits to Americans. The president has instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to expand hospital bed capacity in anticipation of a winter surge.
The president stated that he would not require travelers to be vaccinated before boarding flights to the US, nor was he considering vaccine requirements for domestic air travelers. The president emphasized that 200 million residents have already been vaccinated, as he did at the White House on Tuesday.
Early studies suggest that people who have been vaccinated will need a booster shot to avoid contracting the Omicron variant.
The White House announced on Wednesday that it was purchasing more treatments in order to double the supply of sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody treatment. The administration is also procuring half a million doses of AstraZeneca's newly authorized drug to prevent Covid in people with weakened immune systems. The Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer s antiviral pills for Covid on Wednesday.
We were in a situation where we had fewer vaccine recipients and emergency rooms filled with vaccinated people last Christmas. Biden said in the interview that you had serious backups in hospitals that were causing great difficulties.
The White House announced on Monday that a staffer who traveled aboard Air Force One with the president had tested positive for the disease. Biden tested negative for the virus on Wednesday. Kamala Harris was also exposed. The White House said on Wednesday that a staffer who was in close contact with her this week tested positive. The vice-president has so far tested negative.
Biden told ABC that if he's in good health, he would run for president again, especially in a rematch against Donald Trump. Why would someone not vote for Donald Trump as the nominee? The president said something. That will increase the chance of running.