Biden Gets New COVID-19 Booster, Urges Americans to Follow

President Joe Biden receives a bivalent COVID-19 booster shot in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, in Washington on Oct. 25, 2022. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Oct. 25 received a dose of a new COVID-19 booster and encouraged other Americans to get one of the unproven shots.

Biden got a dose of a bivalent booster, which targets the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.

No clinical data is available from trials for the boosters, which are made by Pfizer and Moderna. Researchers who compared the updated boosters with the old boosters found they produced similar antibody levels.

That didn’t stop Biden from suggesting the updated shots will prevent severe illness and death.

“Let me be as plain as I can: We still have hundreds of people dying each day from COVID in this country, hundreds,” Biden told a press conference in Washington. “That number is likely to rise this winter. But this year is different from the past. This year, nearly every death is preventable.”

The White House didn’t respond to a request for evidence to support the claim.

Biden said that people’s vaccine or previous infection “will not give you maximum protection” and that a booster would increase the protection to its fullest.

Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, wasn’t as certain about the protection.

“Our vaccines ... should provide the best protection possible about sickness and against serious illness this winter,” he said during a separate briefing.

The president had already received multiple boosters and recovered from COVID-19 earlier this year.

Recovery from COVID-19 bestows protection that is superior to the protection from vaccination, numerous studies have shown.

Biden also highlighted how some pharmacies are offering financial incentives to people who get one of the vaccines, including Albertsons giving 10 percent off groceries to people who receive a shot in an Albertsons location.

The CEOs of Albertsons, CVS Health, Rite Aid, and Walgreens were among those present.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser; Surgeon General Dr. Vivik Murthy, and Health Secretary Xavier Becerra also stood with Biden as he delivered remarks.

After receiving a shot, Biden was asked whether COVID-19 is still a national emergency.

“We have to make sure it doesn’t become one,” Biden replied.

Biden declared the COVID-19 pandemic “over” on Sept. 18, but his administration still extended the COVID-19 public health emergency in mid-October.

Biden was also asked whether he thought New York City’s decision to rescind its private employee COVID-19 vaccine mandate was a mistake.

“No, I don’t. That’s a local judgment,” Biden said.

The injection came several hours after the administration announced it would be launching a new advertisement campaign and undertaking other efforts to try to get more Americans boosted, as uptake hasn’t yet hit 10 percent after the new shots were authorized in late August.