Last week, with the arrival of the Omicron variant, President Biden told Americans in a press briefing, “It’s here now, and it’s spreading, and it’s going to increase. For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated.” Biden will deliver another speech on the pandemic today, which may be more of the same dark, accusatory rhetoric he used during the briefing. However, there are several problems with the administration’s message as more information about Omicron emerges.
First, reports of many infections in highly vaccinated populations are hitting the media. The NFL, NBA, and NHL are contemplating schedule changes because of positive tests in vaccinated and boosted players. News anchors, such as CNBC’s Jim Cramer, have reported testing positive and experiencing mild symptoms. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) also disclosed that they have symptomatic illness after being vaccinated and receiving a booster. The vaccinated can obviously become ill and transmit the virus. It will be interesting to see what happens with unvaccinated Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), who recovered from COVID earlier in the pandemic.
Next, there is no data in other countries a month into the Omicron surge indicating widespread severe illness or death. A team of researchers in Hong Kong found that Omicron replicates 70 times faster in the upper airways of infected individuals but reproduces ten times slower in the lung tissue. The overreaction of immune response in the lungs that included inflammation and clotting caused severe disease in the vulnerable when infected with previous variants. In South Africa and the UK, health officials do not see the same deadly progression. The UK is testing specifically for the new variant, which does not appear to react to the S primer on the current PCR tests as all other variants have.
On Monday, Dr. Scott Atlas noted on Tucker Carlson Tonight that infections have become disconnected from hospitalizations and deaths, specifically in South Africa. “This is good news,” Atlas told Carlson. “In fact, this is how pandemics end. What’s stunning is that there is no word of this, this expected good thing happening at the end of the pandemic from Dr. Fauci.” Atlas noted that the administration and some local leaders are encouraging the same restrictions and lockdowns that did not work in previous waves. The measures appear to have done more harm than good in many ways.
Related: WH’s Cruel Message to the Unvaccinated: Get Ready for a ‘Winter of Severe Illness and Death’
The Biden administration is also relentlessly pushing vaccines and boosters, despite the results in South Africa, where less than 30% of the population is fully vaccinated. Since the CDC has discouraged using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, only two-dose mRNA vaccines are available. The CDC does not consider people fully vaccinated until 14 days after the second dose. For the available vaccines, that means a minimum of 35 to 42 days. South Africa hit its positive case peak of Omicron in about 24 days. Once again, the Biden HHS is failing to provide an adequate supply of effective monoclonal antibody treatments for all Americans who need them and continues to thwart available early treatment regimens used broadly in other countries.
It is clear the vaccinated and unvaccinated may need treatment. Even though the CDC announced that Omicron now makes up 73% of infections in the United States, Delta is still circulating. During the Delta wave in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis reported that more than half of the Floridians receiving monoclonal antibodies in the state’s clinics had received the vaccine before becoming ill. The Biden administration praises the vaccinated and pays lip service to them but is not doing all it can to protect them.
Over the weekend, NIH Director Francis Collins warned of a “blizzard of infections” this winter, and the corporate media talking heads repeated the talking point ad nauseam. Meanwhile, all data points to Omicron being a legitimate off-ramp from the hamster wheel that has been the pandemic. It appears to be a mutated virus that causes mild illness in the upper airway and transmits efficiently. It almost sounds like the other human coronaviruses that circulate seasonally and cause the common cold. In other words, something no government policy can eradicate, cure, or prevent.
It remains to be seen what President Biden will announce today. However, it is clear he is listening to many of the same advisors that have been leading the response since January of 2020. Biden is sure to continue scapegoating the unvaccinated and ignoring Americans’ personal experience with the virus, breakthrough infections, and risk stratification. Someone may want to explain the definition of insanity to them as they keep doing the same things over and over, expecting Americans to believe the results will be any different.