Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
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President Joe Biden’s plan to combat the newest variant of COVID-19, Omicron, has taken the form of a nine-point framework.
In a speech delivered to the National Institutes of Health Thursday afternoon, Biden promised to fight the Omicron “variant with science and speed, not chaos and confusion” and take steps to keep schools open.
The language of the president’s speech and that of his new plan indicate Biden hopes to use this latest mutation as a type of restart.
“This is a moment we can put the divisiveness behind us I hope,” Biden said. “This is a moment we can do what we haven’t been able to do enough of through this whole pandemic: get the nation to come together.”
According to a White House release, the Biden administration believes the battle against the Omicron variant will be won through additional vaccination for adults and children in the U.S., greater emphasis on assisting less fortunate countries in vaccinating their residents, and additional protocols for work and travel.
The plan also calls for expanding access to free at-home COVID tests by means of insurance reimbursement, providing COVID treatment pills that the administration says will prevent hospitalization and death, the development of rapid response teams to assist in the case of outbreaks, and a goal of taking “steps to ensure we are prepared for all scenarios.”
A senior official from the Biden administration told reporters Wednesday night, “we are pulling out all the stops to get people the maximum amount of protection as we head into the winter months.”
At least on paper, the new plan stops short of the use of vaccine mandates, which have been repeatedly struck down in federal court.
The word “mandate” never appears in the extensive press release that explains the White House’s strategy and the topic of vaccine mandates also never came up in the senior official’s press call.
This is not necessarily indicative of a change or heart for the president however. While not written in an executive order or official policy, President Biden has continued his call for businesses to enact vaccine mandates on their own. This development was first reported by CNBC.
The Biden administration has also pledged to appeal recent court rulings, while Democrats have faced pressure from some Republicans who are hoping to leverage pending debt and government shutdown crises to force the White House to abandon its mandates.
Though vaccine mandates were not discussed under Biden’s new plan, ones requiring masks for travel and rules forcing international visitors to provide proof of a negative COVID test within one day of their departure for America were.
Though mandates are not addressed, the word vaccine permeates the document, with President Biden making vaccinations and booster shots central to multiple prongs of his plan. The bulk of his plan to prepare for new scenarios was to streamline the process of making new vaccines and boosters available.
Rather than legal requirements, the strategy focuses more on offering guidance and encouraging people to get booster shots, protecting the elderly, and combatting what the White House deems to be misinformation.
“This effort will put a special focus on seniors who are the most vulnerable, including seniors from communities of color and seniors from underserved communities,” the White House release reads. “The campaign will feature paid advertising across multiple channels, engagement with community organizations, robust stakeholder outreach, and earned media campaigns.”
Another notable prong of the president’s plan is the creation of a “Safe School Checklist”, which the White House says will, “give schools a clear game plan for how to get as many of their staff and students vaccinated as possible. The best way to avoid outbreaks in schools is to stop transmission before it happens – and the best tool we have to stop transmission and keep schools open is vaccinating everyone who is eligible.”
Thursday’s plan reads closely to campaign promises Biden made in 2020. Prior to his inauguration, Biden said his response to COVID would be guided by science and rely on public information efforts aimed at encouraging people to take preventative steps to slow the spread of COVID.
Biden’s official campaign website contained no mention of mandatory vaccine inoculations, although vaccines were neither widely available nor fully approved until late in the election cycle. Biden did pledge at the time to fund vaccine development.
While still a candidate, Biden advocated heavily for mask mandates, but said he’d encourage governors and mayors across the nation to enact them rather than the federal government.
Similarly, Thursday’s announcement of checklists for public information programs does not require anything by way of federal law. However, each measure could be used at the state and local level to enact laws or restrictions.
Wednesday night, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Fox News to discuss how the new variant was a ripe opportunity for a further power grab by Democrats.
Shortly after his appearance, Kennedy tweeted “Omicron shows us again that Democrats trust government while Republicans trust people. Democrats believe the managerial elite in DC is all-knowing. Republicans believe people can assess the facts and make their own decisions.”
Omicron shows us again that Democrats trust government while Republicans trust people.
Democrats believe the managerial elite in DC is all-knowing. Republicans believe people can assess the facts and make their own decisions. pic.twitter.com/yIY4ZBb4s6
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) December 1, 2021
As of this writing, two Americans have thus far been confirmed to have the omicron variant of COVID, one in California and another in Minnesota.