White House Urges Americans to Get Boosted to Protect Against New COVID-19 Subvariant
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Biden administration urged the American public to get COVID-19 boosters Tuesday to strengthen their protections against the BA.5 subvariant of the Omicron variant.
Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator, urged Americans who have not received the first COVID-19 booster to do so immediately. The BA.5 variant has become the dominant COVID-19 strain in the country and is expected to make up 65% of all COVID-19 cases in the U.S. last week when the data comes out, according to CDC director Rochelle Walensky. The current average of daily COVID-19 hospitalizations has risen to about 5,000 people, more than doubling the 2,000 daily admissions recorded in early May. According to New York Times (Lean Left bias) data, new cases in the U.S. are up roughly 20% in the past two weeks, but remain well below Omicron's peak in early 2022.
Left-and center-rated outlets highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic is "not over" given the "super-contagious" and "dangerous" BA.5 variant. Some left-rated reports accentuated scientists who went as far to call BA.5 the "worst" version of the COVID-19 virus recorded thus far due to its ability to override waning immunity from previous infections or past shots. Conversely, coverage from some right-rated outlets emphasized that one Biden administration official called BA.5's spread a "manageable challenge," as well as how "deaths remain steady" despite an uptick in hospitalizations.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
As BA.5 spreads, the White House warns that Covid is not over.
President Biden’s coronavirus response team warned Americans on Tuesday that they must do more to protect themselves against Covid-19, as the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant known as BA.5 fuels a new wave of infections, re-infections and hospitalizations across the country.
But their new strategy to combat the threat sounded a lot like the old one, couched as advice that they hope more people will follow: Get vaccinated or boosted even if you have already been infected; test if you feel sick; seek out therapeutics if you test positive and wear masks in...
From the Right
White House COVID coordinator: Country can weather new BA.5 variant just fine
The Biden administration said the fast-moving BA.5 variant of the coronavirus is a stark but manageable challenge, unveiling a plan that relies on frequent testing, antiviral drugs and up-to-date vaccinations while stopping short of an immediate expansion of the booster campaign as drugmakers reformulate their shots.
The new variant and a related one, BA.4, have become dominant in the U.S. and appear to transmit faster than previous forms of the virus and evade prior immunity — even as polling and general behavior suggest Americans would quit worrying about the pandemic....
From the Center
Citing risk from Omicron variant BA.5, White House urges Americans to get Covid-19 boosters
The Biden administration on Tuesday urged the public to strengthen their protections against Covid-19, noting that the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron has become the dominant strain in the country.
At a briefing Tuesday, health officials outlined their plan to combat the latest form of the coronavirus to pose a threat, emphasizing existing tools like vaccines and boosters, testing, and treatments.
“BA.5 is something we’re closely monitoring, and most importantly, we know how to manage it,” said Ashish Jha, the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator.
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