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Joe Biden battled coughing fits during a corona pandemic address Tuesday
Photo: JIM LO SCALZO / EPA
The number of corona infections in the USA has recently increased significantly again - and the number of trips and family get-togethers over the Christmas period could increase even further.
Joe Biden wants to counteract this with a large-scale test campaign and provide half a billion rapid tests.
However, the initiative comes too late for the festival - the kits are sold out in many places.
Now the US president has admitted mistakes.
Although he does not believe that it is a serious failure, he said, according to the broadcaster ABC, in an interview on Wednesday.
When asked why tests were missing at Christmas of all times and why they weren't procured earlier, he replied: "One could argue that we should have known a year ago, six months ago, two months ago, a month ago."
"No, nothing is good enough"
Biden announced on Tuesday that half a billion free self-tests would be available from January.
Now the Democrat said he wished he had ordered this two months ago.
The ABC moderator spoke to him about the empty shelves in pharmacies and asked if that was good enough.
"No, nothing is good enough," said the President.
“But look where we are.
Last Christmas we were in a situation where we had significantly fewer people who had been vaccinated and the emergency rooms were full, ”said Biden.
"Now we are in a situation in which 200 million people are fully vaccinated." The rate of people who have been vaccinated twice in the USA, a country with around 330 million inhabitants, is just under 62 percent.
There had been long lines in front of test centers across the country in the past few days.
Some of the tests were sold out or very expensive.
The Omikron variant is now dominant in the USA - the number of new infections is increasing.
At the same time, many people want to visit their families at Christmas and prefer to be on the safe side with a corona test.
Supreme Court examines vaccination regulations
A vaccination or test requirement issued by Biden for large companies and a vaccination requirement for health care workers is meanwhile being examined by the US Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court announced a hearing on Wednesday for January 7th.
Republican states, corporations, and religious groups had challenged the federal regulations.
The examination of the requests for suspension of these regulations has now been postponed until the oral hearing, said the Supreme Court.
According to media reports, the early date for such a hearing is unusual.
He suggests that the court wants to decide the matter quickly.
One of the controversial provisions is that employers with a hundred or more employees must ensure that their employees are vaccinated or that they are regularly tested.
fek / dpa
