Biden entered office with a clear promise about the pandemic: to deliver a coherent strategy for beating it back and, as he often said on the 2020 campaign trail, to always “follow the science” in that pursuit. “.
“I’ve seen more Dr. (Anthony) Fauci than my wife,” Biden joked last week, referring to his chief medical adviser during a speech about his plans for the coming months. As he explained a series of initiatives, the president acknowledged man-made obstacles in his path. “Covid-19 has been very divisive in this country. It has become a political issue, which is a sad, sad comment,” he said. “It shouldn’t happen, but it has happened.”
Biden called on Americans to put that “division” behind them, but just as with the virus being conquered, there is little to suggest that his wish will come true. On Tuesday night, those divisions were strongly demonstrated in the Senate.
Schumer said of the Republican, “If their plan is implemented, COVID will last longer and there will be more likely to be new variants and new and more dangerous variants.” “It’s anti-science, anti-common sense. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Some GOP senators insisted that their resistance to Biden’s mandate was rooted in his opposition to forcing private citizens to take the shot.
“It’s not about being anti-vaccine,” said Sen. Steve Dines of Montana. “I was part of the Pfizer trial. I’m pro-science, pro-vaccine, but I’m anti-mandate.”
New variants replace goalposts
Now, with Omicron-type cases spread across the United States, the country increasingly grapples with the alarming and crippling stress of uncertainty. Its webs touch almost every part of American life, from gas prices and supply chain issues to tough questions about what stage of vaccination they are at – to those who have already asked for and received two shots. – Enough to protect them from a virus. It now kills about 800,000 Americans and more than 5 million people worldwide.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Wednesday that his opinion is that it will, if not, change the definition of vaccination entirely to include three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine — but That he wants everyone to get a third shot, regardless.
“I don’t think anyone would argue that the optimal safety would be with the third shot,” Fauci said. “It’s a technical, almost semantic definition, and it’s a definition of requirements.”
In terms of both policy and personal understanding, the new guidance is likely – recent history strongly suggests – to fuel existing frustration and outrage, particularly among GOP partisans.
A recent analysis by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation underscored the depth of the rift between Democrats and Republicans over vaccines—though, perhaps more than any other, the issue provides a broad representation of the messy landscape.
The foundation reported last month that “bias is now the strongest self-identifying predictor of those without vaccination.” And in an analysis it published in early December, the authors noted, “four in ten Republicans remain unvaccinated and the small share of vaccinated Republicans — especially older Republicans — report receiving a booster dose.” ”
Overall, the number of Americans receiving boosters or additional doses currently stands at about 49 million, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Overall, it accounts for slightly more than a quarter of fully vaccinated adults and less than 50% of fully vaccinated seniors.
The pace of vaccination appears to be accelerating over the past month, with an average of about 500,000 Americans starting vaccinations every day and an average of about 1.9 million shots being administered each day. About a million of them are boosters.
But with nearly a quarter of the eligible population still illiterate, the pandemic is again throwing the political world for a loop – adding yet another unwanted dose of debate and ambiguity to the social terminology surrounding vaccination.
When it became clear earlier in the day on Wednesday that Biden’s need for a vaccine for businesses would face rebuke in the Senate, Republican super PAC America Rising drew a slew of recent comments from a pair of Democratic governors, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Batch released. Laura Kelly of Kansas, along with Manchin and Tester, expressed either panic or opposition to some vaccine mandates.
“Joe Biden’s failed agenda creates the economic hardship that Americans are facing right now, and a vaccine mandate will exacerbate the problem,” Whitney Robertson, press secretary for America Rising PAC, said in a statement. “Even notable members of his own party are refusing to sign his name for such a terrible idea.”
The New Testament is probably destined for a courtroom. This has set off a mix of outright protest and anger by many as yet another life-changing decision taken without much public debate. Already, a preemptive requirement for municipal employees is back in court next week, when a judge on Tuesday set the date for new arguments on a New York City Police Department detective’s request to withhold the municipal mandate. The political and legal battle ensues as the number of cases continues to rise in the city and state and just before the peak of the holiday travel season.
A green ray of hope as winter sets in
But relief does not necessarily translate into confidence, a political puzzle for the Biden White House as it seeks to navigate its first Covid-era winter.
The reality is that all three, and many of the concerns going forward, are deeply intertwined, even if Americans and their political leaders see them as separate threats or disappointments. With the midterm election season on the horizon, the vibe of the overall message will weaken even more, as both parties look for winning issues, narrowing the electorate that will determine control of Congress, the governor’s race and state legislative contests. .
However, the poll had some relief news for the administration and many Democrats, revealing support for Biden’s Build Back Better legislation, which would cover paid leave, child and elderly care, health care, college, climate change and more. Addresses a lot, remains. Strong. (This despite an uncertain fate in Congress after passing the House, but facing a rough road ahead in the Senate.) The bipartisan infrastructure deal passed by both chambers and signed by Biden is also extremely popular, with 66% of Americans has approved it.
Biden’s chief of staff retweeted a brief summary of the decision to approve the Monmouth Poll on the Democratic legislative agenda. And in Missouri, where he spent the day selling bipartisan packages, Biden took a small jibe at his predecessor in the midst of a rare victory lap.
“I don’t think I can take another phrase that this is going to be ‘infrastructure week,'” Biden said in applause at the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. “Guess what? It’s going to be the infrastructure decade now, man.”
Whether the legislation he was celebrating is popular and succeeds in his ambitions, it seems unlikely that this young, deeply troubled decade would be labeled so easily.
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