Sharjah24 – AFP: President Joe Biden on Tuesday sought to reassure Americans about the country's ability to battle the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, saying it was "prepared" to fight what is now the dominant coronavirus strain in the United States.
In a televised address, Biden formally announced a raft of new measures to combat the winter surge -- including shipping half a billion at home tests -- but denied his administration had failed to adequately prepare for the fresh wave of cases.
"We should all be concerned about Omicron but not panicked," he said from the White House.
"This is not March of 2020," he continued. "Two hundred million people are fully vaccinated. We're prepared, we know more. We just have to stay focused."
Biden stressed the country's immunization campaign would help prevent severe cases among the 62 percent of the population now fully vaccinated -- while scolding the unvaccinated for failing to uphold their "patriotic duty."
He also urged everyone to get a booster shot in order to increase their level of protection against the highly-mutated Omicron strain.
"Just the other day, former president Trump announced he had gotten his booster shot," said Biden, calling the gesture "maybe one of the few things he and I agree on."
Beyond vaccines, the country's stockpile of medical equipment -- including personal protective gear and ventilators -- together with greater knowledge about how to tackle the virus without shutting down schools means America was in a far better position as compared with last year, he added.
Biden announced his administration's plan to combat the surge, including deploying military personnel to hospitals, shipping supplies to hard-hit states and getting new free testing sites up and running.
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