Over the weekend, we reported on the news that a major shift from the Biden White House was coming regarding the Wuhan virus and the COVID vaccine.
“Out” will be the lofty promises of “shutting down the virus,” which both then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his vice presidential running mate Kamala Harris vowed they were going to do if elected. “In” will be an acknowledgment that the virus will not be eradicated and that we must learn how to co-exist with that inconvenient fact, something Republicans have long asserted about the coronavirus.
Some of that messaging will be rather dramatic, as Biden indicated during a Thursday meeting with his COVID response team:
For unvaccinated: We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death, if you’re unvaccinated. For themselves, their family, and the hospital they’ll soon overwhelm.
But another acknowledgment from President Biden that has also been long overdue regarding the virus and the vaccine is finally coming as well, and that is the fact that even among the fully vaccinated and boostered one can both catch and transmit the COVID virus.
During today’s White House press briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki noted that in a speech Biden was going to give Tuesday on the importance of getting the vaccine and booster shots, he would mention that people who had already done so were still at risk of catching it, although according to Biden’s team of medical experts, the risk of severe infection is less likely if you’ve had all three shots:
Biden supporters might not see this as a big deal in the scheme of things, but it is considering the number of occasions Biden has falsely claimed people who have been fully vaccinated cannot catch COVID. There are at least three instances I know of, and I suspect there are far more where those came from.
As I said last week, in making those claims, Biden repeatedly ignores “the science” he says we should listen to, and in my opinion, it was happening so often that I was starting to wonder if it wasn’t actually an infamous Biden “flub” but instead a deliberate attempt to mislead people and lull them into a false sense of security by falsely claiming you can’t catch nor spread the virus if you get the vaccine.
In my personal opinion, people should not let what politicians say unduly influence their medical decisions, but it’s a reality that many do. There are no doubt people who have listened to Biden’s statements or read about them later in the news and thought that if they get the vaccine they are immune to the virus and that if they go to the doctor or hospital that a vaccinated healthcare worker couldn’t transmit COVID to them.
Apparently, his team of advisors have determined that it’s now incredibly important for him to clarify what he’s said in the past so people won’t look at the recent stories of fully vaccinated public figures like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and others catching COVID and get confused.
Though the White House is doing this more as a face-saving measure rather than in an effort to give people all the available information they need before making an informed decision as to whether or not to get the vaccine and booster shots, the net effect is that it will inform people. The problem is that next week Biden will likely be back to stating the same falsehoods he previously has, because unfortunately, that’s just what this administration’s most inconsistent and hypocritical messenger does.