White House says Biden 'has no intention' of imposing lockdown in US amid Omicron scare

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that US President Joe Biden had no plans of imposing a lockdown as “we are not in the same place that we were at” during the start of the pandemic. Over 200 million Americans are vaccinated, she said at the White House COVID-19 briefing. Although she added, that the President in his address tomorrow will issue a “stark warning” and “make clear" that the unvaccinated individuals will continue to drive hospitalizations and deaths. Biden, she said, will restate that fully vaccinated individuals have the tools to protect themselves, and will push for the booster shot and mask mandate, as per the CDC’s recommendations. 

“We continue to see and our health experts assess that you are 14 times more likely to die of COVID-19 if you have not been vaccinated versus vaccinated,” Psaki told the White House briefing when asked about the measures the US leader plans to take to tackle the ‘dramatically’ rising Omicron cases. 

Not ‘trying to scare people’ says Psaki as she warns of deaths from Omicron

Psaki noted that the US president will detail the additional steps to control the Omicron’s winter surge but ruled out the prospects of any stringent restrictions in the weeks to come. “The President has been clear that vaccinated individuals get COVID due,” she said, adding that their cases “will likely be mild or asymptomatic.” She then warned, “those who choose to remain unvaccinated” about the predictions of deaths and hospital admissions, stressing: “That is not ‘trying to scare people’ — maybe it is trying to make clear to the people in this country what the risks are here of not being vaccinated.” COVID-19 is not the same threat to fully vaccinated individuals that it was in March 2020, said Biden’s Press Secretary.

When questioned, "Should the Americans expect any new restrictions?", Psaki clarified that the Biden administration may not resort to “locking the country down” but will increase access to jabs, COVID-19 testing, and explore ways to mitigate the risks posed to unvaccinated Americans. She also disclosed Biden’s plans to address the New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio request of invoking the Defense Production Act because of a shortage of at-home tests, monoclonal antibody treatments. 

The act, as discussed by the president in his run-up on March 2 and earlier last month, would increase the vaccine supply and help deliver vaccine doses earlier than expected. Psaki informed that the administration plans to dispatch at least 30 ambulances to the state accompanying teams of personnel to help balance patient load at the hospitals from the Omicron [amid the vaccine shortage]. She then stressed that the US president spent close to $3 billion to expand the number of ‘at-home COVID-19 tests’ and he will inform how he plans to tackle those issues in his address scheduled for tomorrow. Boosters “are strongly recommended and distributed,” she said.