by Steve Holland and Jarrett Renshaw
WASHINGTON, December 21 (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced the opening of additional federal COVID-19 vaccination and testing centers in the United States to fight the spike in infections caused by the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Speaking at the White House to reporters, Joe Biden also said some 500 million self-tests would be available to Americans as of January.
He used this speech both to warn people not vaccinated against COVID-19, who have “good reasons to be worried”, and to reassure those who have received the vaccine, who can meet for the end of the year celebrations despite the high speed propagation of the Omicron variant across the United States.
It is “not March 2020,” the US president told reporters. “200 million people are completely vaccinated, we are ready, we know more,” he continued.
Among the measures announced on Tuesday, the deployment of 1,000 medical personnel from the American army to strengthen the number of hospitals overwhelmed in certain areas by the massive influx of patients with COVID-19.
Joe Biden has been criticized for having focused his fight against the epidemic on vaccines at the expense of testing and wearing a mask, while underestimating the impact of a politically motivated “anti-vax” movement.
The new federal measures will not be fully implemented until Christmas, leaving many Americans to struggle to find self-tests and question the safety of their plans to gather and travel for the holiday season.
(French version Jean Terzian)