Klain: ‘We All Knew’ ‘Sooner or Later,’ Biden ‘Would Get COVID’ But He Has Vaccines, Boosters, Treatments — It’s ‘a Teachable Moment’

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain commented on President Joe Biden contracting COVID by stating that “we all knew there would come a time when, by being out there and doing his job as president,” “that sooner or later, like a lot of other Americans, he would get COVID.” And that things are different from when former President Trump contracted COVID because Biden is vaccinated and boosted and Paxlovid is available.

Klain said, “I hope it is a teachable moment. The president does what every other person in America does every day, which is he takes reasonable precautions against COVID, but does his job. And we all knew there would come a time when, by being out there and doing his job as president, which means engaging with the public, engaging with constituents, engaging with members of the House and all these people, that sooner or later, like a lot of other Americans, he would get COVID. What’s different than where it was when President Trump got COVID is that he has the benefit of two vaccines and two boosters, and he’s been publicly advocating for every American to take the benefit of our free vaccination, our free booster program. There are 90,000 places in America right now, within the homes — five miles of the homes from 90% of Americans where someone can walk in today and get the same free vaccines and boosters the president got. And then, we have done world-leading work on making Paxlovid, this powerful antiviral, available to people. Now we’ve actually, just a couple of weeks ago, made it available where pharmacists can prescribe it, pharmacies all over the country, you can walk in with a positive test result, and get the same drug the president’s getting here at the White House today.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett