WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden announced that his government took new actions on masks, vaccinations, and booster shots amid the Awakening of Covid-19 driven by a very contagious Delta variant throughout the country.
Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Biden said he directed the Ministry of Education to use his legal authority against several governors who tried to block local school officials from requiring students to use masks to prevent the spread of the virus, report the Xinhua news agency.
“You know, we will not sit because the governor tries to block and intimidate educators who protect our children,” Biden said.
Some of the Republican governors, such as Ron Desantis Florida, Doug Ducey of Arizona, and Greg Abbott from Texas, have issued orders for local school districts from requiring masks in class.
“They set a dangerous tone,” Biden said.
“It’s not about politics.
It’s about keeping our children safe.
It’s about taking a joint virus, United.” He said the Emergency Funding of Covid-19 in the ‘American Rescue Plan’ can be used to pay educators who have their salary dedives by local governments and states if their schools apply mask masks.
More than 121,000 cases of new children were recorded in the week ended on August 12 in the US, “sustainable substantial increase”, said a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Child Hospital Association.
Until now, more than 4.41 million children have been tested positive in the country since the emergence of pandemics, representing 14.4 percent of all cases, the report said.
Children under 12 years have not been authorized to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in this country.
In his speech on Wednesday, the President also said that he directed the Ministry of Health and Human Services to compile new regulations that made employee vaccination a condition of nurses to participate in Medicare and Medicaid.
The deserts have needed that all health workers and homeworkers with the department of veteran affairs are vaccinated and federal employees will be vaccinated or undergo routine testing.
In addition, Biden talked about the new recommendation of administration for everyone to get a booster shot, starting on Sunday 20 September, awaiting approval by food and medicine administration.
“It’s the best way to protect yourself from a new variant that can arrive,” he said about booster.
He understated criticism that Americans would get additional protection against Covid-19 while most of the world was still waiting for the first vaccination shooting.
“There are several world leaders who say America should not get a third shot until other countries get their first chance – I do not agree,” Biden said.
“We can take care of America and help the world at the same time.” Americans who are fully vaccinated who receive two shots of mRNA vaccines, as made by Moderna and Pfizer, earlier this year can begin to get a booster dose on September 20, US health officials were announced earlier on Wednesday.
Everyone must get their booster shot eight months after their second shot.
Americans who get Johnson & Johnson One-Shot vaccines are likely to need a booster shot, but more data on this topic is expected in the coming weeks, officials said.
Data from Disease Control and Prevention Center (CDC) shows that the effectiveness of vaccines fell from 75 percent in March to 53 percent in August.
Hospitals throughout the US are “back in crisis mode” because of the fourth surge pandemic driven by the Delta variant, according to an article published by the Washington Post on Wednesday.
Double-digit growth in hospitalization was recorded in 46 of the 50 US states on the week ended on Tuesday, and eight states, including California and New York, added more than 400 new inpatients, said the article.
The US recorded 911,529 new cases in the week ended on Sunday, and had not seen high weekly improvements since January 31 with more than 1 million new infections, according to newspapers.
On Wednesday, 60 percent of the US population has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, with 51 percent fully vaccinated, CDC data shows.