Biden is scrambling to combat the omicron variant that is popping up in more places and could derail his pandemic agenda for the second time in five months.
The president, speaking at the National Institutes of Health, said his winter plan avoids economic restrictions and the type of federal mandates that previously spurred legal battles.Biden said health insurers must cover the cost of at-home testing for 150 million Americans in private coverage and that his administration will surge tests to rural clinics and health centers used by the uninsured and those in federal coverage.
The president spoke hours after Minnesota announced the second known case of the omicron variant in the U.S.The variant is driving renewed concerns around the virus and prodding Mr.Biden, who cut off travel from southern African countries, said all U.S.-bound travelers must get a negative test for the virus within one day of travel.
Administration officials said they will accept both rapid antigen tests and more sensitive “PCR” tests from travelers under the new rule, which takes effect early next week.Biden said he will open “hundreds” of family-oriented clinics this winter where children can get initially vaccinated while their parents and grandparents get extra doses.
Also, pharmacies will extend their hours as part of a nationwide push to get booster shots into the nearly 100 million vaccinated Americans who are eligible for another dose but have not come forward.The Kaiser Family Foundation, which tracks attitudes on the vaccines, found in November that nearly one in five vaccinated Americans probably won’t get a booster.The president said the extra shots will not only backfill waning antibodies but bolster immune-memory cells that can fend off new variants of the virus, so it is vital to come forward.The administration will work with AARP, a key lobby for older Americans, to promote extra doses among Americans.
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