White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is facing questions about President Joe Bidenâs decision to label COVID-19 a âpandemic of the unvaccinated.â
During a press conference on Wednesday, Fox Newsâ Jacqui Heinrich noted, âThe president said yesterday this continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.â
She asked, âIsnât it also fair to say that itâs still also a pandemic of the vaccinated, given the breakthrough cases that weâve been seeing?â
âWell, Jacqui, we also know that youâre 17 times more likely to die of Covid if youâre not vaccinated and 20 times more likely to be hospitalized,â Psaki responded.
She continued, âSo I think in terms of the impact â the dire impact â 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.â
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During an event at the White House on Tuesday, Biden encouraged Americans to get vaccinated as he said, âThis continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated. So we gotta make more progress. And for patients who still havenât gotten your kids vaccinated, please get them vaccinated.â
âLook out for their interests here. Itâs the best way to protect them,â he added.
He acknowledged that fully vaccinated individuals can contract the virus but added, âItâs highly unlikely, very unlikely, that youâll become seriously ill.â
âAnd weâre seeing COVID-19 cases among vaccinated and workplaces across America, including here at the White House, but if youâre vaccinated and boosted, you are highly protected. You know, be concerned about Omicron, but donât be alarmed. But if youâre unvaccinated, you have some reason to be alarmed,â 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.
