President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled his plans on how to combat COVID this winter, especially in the face of the Omicron variant threat- but not without eliciting negative responses after joking that the controversial Dr. Anthony Fauci, not him, is the president of the United States of America.
Biden was joined by White House chief medical adviser Dr. Fauci at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, where he thanked the agency, scientists, and researchers for their work during the COVID pandemic and their constant communication with the White House. Before unveiling his winter strategy for COVID, however, President Biden shared a joke that sparked some nervous laughter from the crowd.
"I've seen more of Dr. Fauci than I have my wife. We kid each other. But - hey look, who's president? Fauci," President Biden remarked jokingly, as reported by The Blaze.
The joke was not taken lightly by some conservatives in the government. According to the New York Post, Republican Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio told Fox News shortly after President Biden's speech, "Dr. Fauci as president: That's not a joke, that's a nightmare to so many Americans. I mean, when did Dr. Fauci ever put his name on a ballot and run for office and get elected by we, the people? But yet, he has complete authority."
Rep. Jordan's comment seems to echo that of Sen. Rand Paul who called Fauci a "medical dictator" for forcing Americans to do what he wants even as science and real-life data contradict his pronouncements and exposes his lies.
Also, earlier this week, Fox Nation host Lara Logan took aim at Dr. Fauci, saying that for people, the NIH director "doesn't represent science to them. He represents...Dr Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who did experiments on Jews during the second world war and in the concentration camps." Logan also claimed that "people all across the world" were calling Dr. Fauci a Nazi, The Guardian reported.
Another tactic
Meanwhile, President Biden announced a new strategy on how to combat COVID during the winter season and amidst the spread of the Omicron variant. The Democratic leader announced that there will be new international travel restrictions that require travelers from outside the U.S. to present a negative COVID test within 24 hours of their departure to America.
President Biden also announced his plans to require health insurance companies to cover the full cost of at-home COVID rapid tests. He added that the U.S. is currently providing COVID vaccines to "countries we're helping that aren't particularly friendly to us" as part of his plans to "vaccinate the world," which he believes will benefit Americans in the long run.
"Let me be clear, not a single vaccine dose America ever sends to the rest of the world will ever come at the expense of any American," President Biden remarked. "I'll always make sure that our people are protected first. But vaccinating the rest of the world is not just a moral tool - a moral obligation we have - in my view. It's how we protect Americans."
The Democratic leader reiterated how the Omicron variant of COVID is a "cause for concern but not panic" and that the U.S. has "the best tools, the best vaccines in the world, the best medicine and the best scientists in the world" to fight the Omicron variant "with science and speed, not chaos and confusion."
It's worth noting, however, that the South African doctor who discovered the variant in her country noted that Omicron is not a cause for concern, and that while its symptoms are "unusual," they are quite "mild" and can be treated at home.
It's also worth noting how nations that do not rely on COVID vaccines but rather make use of proven effective yet cheap treatment, namely Ivermectin, are not having any problems with the pandemic as much as other highly vaccinated and heavily masked places are.
