Delta variant would spread as easily as chickenpox 0:50
(CNN) -
US President Joe Biden has launched a new and more aggressive campaign to vaccinate Americans against COVID-19, spearheaded by a new requirement that all federal government employees, the workforce more large country, receive the vaccine or face the prospect of an onerous mitigation regime.
The White House decision, in the works for several days and announced by Biden late Thursday afternoon, comes as the delta variant fuels another wave of infections and, among the unvaccinated, increased hospitalizations and deaths.
The severity of the variant was underscored later Thursday with reports from an internal document from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describing unpublished data showing that fully vaccinated people could spread. the delta variant at the same rate as unvaccinated people.
The surge has already undone much of the progress of the spring and early summer and has stoked anger among a vaccinated majority desperate to return to something akin to pre-pandemic normalcy.
Taking advantage of that streak of frustration in his speech, Biden encouraged state and local officials to deliver a new carrot, in the form of payments of $ 100, to the newly vaccinated, but mainly emphasized the big stick he wields as head of government, a departure from the softer touch that he has favored for most of his presidency.
Biden acknowledged that the incentive could irritate Americans who sought vaccines without a monetary reward, but his argument for it prompted something more elemental: a belief - undermined by decades of Republican arguments against it - that the government has the right. capacity and obligation to promote the public good.
"If incentives help us beat this virus, I think we should use them," Biden said.
"We all benefit if we can vaccinate more people."
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Biden also praised companies and private institutions, such as the National Football League, which are imposing new strict measures and, in some cases, demanding that their employees get vaccinated or face being barred from their jobs or forced to search. new.
In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, White House covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients spoke in stark terms about what groups of people who did not want to get vaccinated and who work in government were facing, describing " a difficult system of regular tests, mask use, social distancing "and the ban on traveling for work.
"We believe that people will do the right thing," Zients said.
"Protect yourself, protect your loved ones, protect your community and get vaccinated."
But the change in the Biden administration and a recent tightening of mask-wearing protocols on Capitol Hill are already meeting stiff resistance from the usual suspects, a sign that many Republicans' desire to politicize even bland efforts to fight the virus will provoke a cartoonish reaction.
Republican leaders at the federal and state levels have recently criticized calls by public health experts for a return to stronger mitigation tactics, such as wearing masks in potentially dangerous environments. In Washington, House Republicans staged a protest Thursday against the reinstatement of a mask mandate by the treating physician in the lower house as he walked to the Senate side of the US Capitol, where no coverings are required. facials. Later, a member of the right-wing caucus called the Freedom Caucus lashed out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, describing her as "authoritarian."
"His tyranny, frankly, knows no bounds," snorted Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, who then pointed to the new rules that Biden was ready to implement.
"This will leak out and that will basically obfuscate and abrogate our rights as Americans. We are going to fight this. We will fight as the Freedom Caucus, and we will fight this as Americans."
These companies are demanding the covid-19 vaccine from their employees
A change in momentum?
After a remarkable few months that brought the country to the brink of Biden's goal of 70% of American adults receiving at least one dose by July 4, the vaccination effort, by the president's estimate, has hit. "a brick wall," according to people familiar with his point of view. The pace has picked up in recent days as reports of overwhelmed hospitals and skyrocketing case rates dominated the news, and warnings about the delta variant's transmissibility may have moved hesitant Americans to action.
But anxiety over the relative suspension of vaccination is likely amplified by details contained in an internal report submitted to the CDC, first revealed Thursday night by
The Washington Post
and later confirmed by CNN, which suggests the variant is much more transmissible than older strains, can cause more severe disease, and when it causes post-vaccination infections, it can be transmitted as easily as when it infects unvaccinated people.
The document appears to provide some data to support the controversial decision Tuesday by CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky to change the agency's guidance on mask use.
"I think people should understand that we are not playing the lying shepherd here. This is serious," Walensky told CNN Thursday night, confirming that the slideshow was presented to him at a briefing earlier in the day at noon. day. "All I will say is that it has encouraged me in the last few days to see more people take action in response to the fact that it is bad: more organizations, companies, states and localities taking the necessary steps for us to get out of this."
Biden has failed to impose even more stringent vaccine requirements, and Zients told Blitzer on Thursday that a nationwide vaccine requirement "is not an authority that we are exploring at all," noting that the "Department of Justice has said it is legal for employers to require vaccinations. "
Leaked CDC document shows delta variant is much more contagious and could cause more serious illness
Shortly after Biden spoke, the Department of Defense announced that all military and civilian personnel will be asked to certify their vaccination status or face new requirements "to wear a mask, physical distance, meet a testing requirement. regular and subject to travel restrictions. "
The department, which already has a list of required vaccines for military personnel at home and abroad, stopped short of adding covid vaccines to the list, but is considering it.
For now, the White House seems content to see if its toughened position spurs an increase in vaccinations, while also hoping it will provide more room for the private sector to adopt stringent new requirements.
"I think you're going to find that the patience of companies, the patience of many other people is wearing thin," Biden said, "because the fact is, if you had high vaccination rates, we wouldn't be at this point."
A growing number of high-profile tech companies, healthcare providers, and retail chains have already begun to insist that their employees get vaccinated. Google, Facebook, Netflix, ride-sharing giants Uber and Lyft, along with Saks Fifth Avenue and others make employment conditional on vaccination or go to the point, in some cases, as with Morgan Stanley bankers, of prohibiting employees from not vaccinated people set foot in their facilities.
The NFL recently shook the sports world with the announcement that teams unable to play games due to covid outbreaks caused by unvaccinated players or staff faced the possibility of missing matches and game controls, a move that sparked a backlash. violence from some players but also, at least anecdotally, led some to give in and get vaccinated.
Mixed messages from Republicans
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has consistently embraced vaccination, is the narrator of a new 60-second radio spot airing in his state of Kentucky that, recalling his own experience with polio, urges voters to be vaccinated.
"Back then, it took us decades to develop a vaccine," McConnell says on the spot, describing the creation and distribution of the three COVID-19 vaccines available in the US as "nothing short of a modern medical miracle."
Biden on Thursday praised McConnell, noting that some Fox News anchors have begun encouraging viewers to get the doses, and highlighted another Republican, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, whose state has one of the highest vaccination rates. low, for its more forceful tone.
Last week, Ivey said the unvaccinated were "choosing a horrible lifestyle of self-inflicted pain."
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"People are supposed to have common sense," he told reporters in Birmingham.
"But it's time to start blaming unvaccinated people, not normal people. It's the unvaccinated people who let us down."
But many high-profile Republicans, even those who promote vaccines, have scoffed at the recent public health guidance.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, an acolyte to former President Donald Trump and a potential presidential contender in 2024, has been one of the most ardent critics of the guidelines and recommendations of public health officials.
Speaking at a meeting in Utah this week, he dismissed the CDC's new guidance that encourages Americans at covid hotspots to cover their face when indoors, regardless of their vaccination status.
"Didn't they get the CDC memo? I don't see them complying," he joked to a laughing crowd, mostly without masks.
DeSantis, who sells products that poke fun at Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on his campaign website, has made demonization of the top public health official a staple of his fledgling speech.
"Floridians are free to choose, and all Americans should have the freedom to choose, how they run their affairs, how they care for themselves and our families," DeSantis said in Salt Lake City.
"They should not be condemned to live, regardless of the state of the union, condemned to live in a Faucian dystopia."
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A day later, back in the realm of maddening reality, Biden sought to empower Americans for the even tougher days ahead.
"I know this is hard to hear. I know it is frustrating. I know it is exhausting to think that we are still in this fight. I know we expected this to be a simple, direct line with no issues or new challenges," Biden said, "but that it's not real life. "
Joe Biden Vaccination
