White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is facing questions about President Joe Biden’s decision to label COVID-19 a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
During a press conference on Wednesday, Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich noted, “The president said yesterday this continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
She asked, “Isn’t it also fair to say that it’s still also a pandemic of the vaccinated, given the breakthrough cases that we’ve been seeing?”
“Well, Jacqui, we also know that you’re 17 times more likely to die of Covid if you’re not vaccinated and 20 times more likely to be hospitalized,” Psaki responded.
She continued, “So I think in terms of the impact — the dire impact — on people across the country, we should be very clear about the impact of not getting vaccinated and the people who will be hurt, be hospitalized, and face the threat of death the most. And those are the people who are unvaccinated.”
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Psaki doubles down on Biden's continued labeling of COVID as a "pandemic of the unvaccinated."@JacquiHeinrich: "Isn't it also fair to say that it's still also a pandemic of the vaccinated, given the breakthrough cases that we've been seeing?" pic.twitter.com/7iBMDcm10e
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 5, 2022
During an event at the White House on Tuesday, Biden encouraged Americans to get vaccinated as he said, “This continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated. So we gotta make more progress. And for patients who still haven’t gotten your kids vaccinated, please get them vaccinated.”
“Look out for their interests here. It’s the best way to protect them,” he added.
He acknowledged that fully vaccinated individuals can contract the virus but added, “It’s highly unlikely, very unlikely, that you’ll become seriously ill.”
“And we’re seeing COVID-19 cases among vaccinated and workplaces across America, including here at the White House, but if you’re vaccinated and boosted, you are highly protected. You know, be concerned about Omicron, but don’t be alarmed. But if you’re unvaccinated, you have some reason to be alarmed,” Biden said.
On Tuesday, the country reported 885,541 new infections of the virus. That brings the average number of new daily infections to 547,613, a 254% increase from the previous 14 days.
The surge in cases comes after the discovery of the highly transmissible omicron variant, which is able to evade immunity from vaccination or infection.
