President Joe Biden recently got his third COVID vaccine shot as he is over 65 and is part of the eligible population to get the booster shot. During the event, which was televised in the hopes of encouraging more people to get the COVID vaccine, he made some comments that raised the eyebrows of many Americans across the country.
When asked by a reporter after his third COVID shot, "How many Americans need to be vaccinated for us to go back to normal? What is the percentage of total vaccinations that have to be deployed?", the Commander in Chief gave a rather extreme answer that even scientists may question. Herd immunity after all is 80%, a goal that the Biden administration failed to reach by July 4. The U.S. currently sits at 58.9%.
"I think we get the vast majority - like [what] is going on in so many - some industries and some schools - 96, 97, 98 percent," President Biden answered. "One thing for certain: A quarter of the country can't go unvaccinated and us not continue to have a problem."
He also did not miss the opportunity to reiterate, "This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated." He also offered a statistic: more than 77% of American adults have received at least one COVID vaccine shot and 23% still refuse to get vaccinated. Biden blasted them, saying, "That distinct minority is causing an awful lot of us an awful lot of damage for the rest of the country."
According to NOQ Report, herd immunity is historically reached once about 70% of a community is immune to a virus. Right now, the U.S. has a combination of immunity from vaccines and from natural immunity. But for leaders such as Biden, he only considers immunization from vaccines to count. The report likens this to the "Mark of the Beast" that is found in the Bible, which serves as some sort of a "passport" to be part of a society.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas took to Twitter to blast President Biden's most recent claims about COVID immunity, writing, "Joe Biden is moving the goalposts."
Joe Biden is moving the goalposts. https://t.co/f9w712esuF pic.twitter.com/5YkUHJfo7L
"” Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 27, 2021
Sen. Cruz also shared a screenshot of a link to a 2020 Axios story that said only 75% to 80% of a population must be vaccinated against COVID to develop a "strong enough herd immunity that we can return to normal activities," a statement that White House health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said himself.
"If you have 75%-80% of the people get vaccinated, you create an umbrella of herd immunity - that even though there is virus around, it is really almost inconsequential because it has no place to go, because almost all of the people are protected," Dr. Fauci said in 2020.
On Monday, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC that up to 90% of Americans may already have some sort of COVID immunity by the time the Delta wave is over. The former health official said that he's "optimistic" that the U.S. is "peaking" and is looking at a downward trend of new COVID infections.
"The delta wave is so pervasive and infecting so many people that on the back end of this we're going to have immunity in, at least, 85%, maybe 90% of the population," Dr. Gottlieb explained. "Some will have acquired that immunity through vaccination. Some will have acquired that immunity through infection. Some will have been both vaccinated and infected."
Gottlieb indicated his belief that the COVID pandemic will soon end, even without a need for Biden's vaccine mandate.
