President Joe Biden will address the coronavirus pandemic again on Tuesday, as his administration struggles to respond to the latest variant of the virus while cases continue to rise.
“I am not going to shut down the economy period. I’m going to shut down the virus; that’s what I’m going to shut down,” Biden said at a press conference after the 2020 election in November.
Tuesday’s speech will be Biden’s 37th major address as president focused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
From the beginning of his presidency, Biden blamed his predecessor Donald Trump for failing to end the pandemic, promising Americans he would “always level” with them, “shoot from the shoulder” and lead the pandemic response with science.
In February, Biden said “with the grace of God and the goodwill of the neighbors” that by Christmas the United States would be in “very different circumstance.”
“I think you’re going to see that we’re going to be going into the Christmas season better than we were,” Biden posited during an event.
On July 4th, Biden said “we’re closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus” and said “the power of science” would end the pandemic.
“Today, while the virus hasn’t been vanquished, we know this: It no longer controls our lives. It no longer paralyzes our nation,” he said.
At the end of July, Biden acknowledged the spread of the Delta variant of the virus and the spike in cases across the country.
He reassured Americans that “breakthrough cases” of the virus among vaccinated people “remain rare and almost all are mild cases.” A vaccine booster, he said, was not necessary, citing evidence of the vaccines providing continued protection from the Delta variant.
In September, Biden announced his decision to level a vaccine mandate on American companies with over 100 employees even though in the previous year he said that vaccines mandates were not necessary.
“This is not about freedom or personal choice. It’s about protecting yourself and those around you,” he said.
Biden called the ongoing fight against the virus a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” blaming the ongoing spread of the pandemic on Americans who chose not to get the vaccine.
Later in September, Biden announced booster shots were necessary for vaccinated Americans to remain protected from the virus and publicly got his third shot on camera.
After Thanksgiving, Biden acknowledged the emergence of a third variant of the virus, the Omicron variant, and said that booster shots were essential to build continued protection from the virus.
Last week, Biden threatened unvaccinated Americans with death, warning them of a grim winter ahead.
“For unvaccinated: We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death, if you’re unvaccinated,” Biden said. “For themselves, their family, and the hospital they’ll soon overwhelm.”
Biden continues suffering lower poll numbers as the coronavirus pandemic continues at the end of 2021, when he and his advisors expected to be free from the virus.
The president has also failed to acknowledge the grim milestone that more Americans have died from coronavirus under his presidency than under former President Trump.