(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first-ever long-acting injectable drug for HIV prevention.
Until this week, the only FDA-licensed and approved medications for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, most commonly known as PrEP, were daily oral pills containing the HIV treatment drugs tenofovir and emtricitabine, which slow the progression of an HIV infection in the body.
PrEP is taken daily so that it builds up in your system, to the point that if there is an HIV infection, it prevents the virus from replicating and spreading throughout the body.
When taken as prescribed, PrEP services reduce the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99%, according to new data from the CDC. Now, individuals who feel at-risk of HIV infection have the option of taking the daily pill, or the new shot every two months, after two initiation injections administered one month apart.
“This injection, given every two months, will be critical to addressing the HIV epidemic in the U.S., including helping high-risk individuals and certain groups where adherence to daily medication has been a major challenge or not a realistic option,” the FDA said in a statement.
According to Dr. Darien Sutton, Emergency Medicine Physician, in an interview with “Good Morning America,” “This is a game-changer in the world of HIV prevention.”
“Patients often have difficulty complying with any oral medication, so a bi-monthly injection can truly change the landscape in terms of HIV prevention. Having a bi-monthly treatment also serves as an opportunity to interact with a patient, share risk reduction sexual health education and complete necessary screenings.”
“Patients on PrEP can often feel stigmatized with taking daily medication,” he told “GMA.” “Some have shared with me that they fear simple actions, like picking up their medications from the pharmacy due to fear of stigmatization. This stigma unfortunately doesn’t stop at the pharmacy, as many also fear being seen carrying their preventative medications in public.”
Sutton added, “The study was also inclusive, including transgender women, which allows better applicability with diverse patient populations.”
CDC data shows that an estimated 34,800 people in the United States acquired HIV in 2019, the most recent year for which data are available.
Men who have sex with men, transgender women who have sex with men, and Black cisgender women are among those disproportionately affected by HIV in the U.S.
Heterosexual people made up 23% of all HIV diagnoses in the U.S. and six dependent areas in 2019. Specifically, heterosexual men accounted for 7% of new HIV diagnoses and heterosexual women accounted for 16%.
The FDA approval comes on the heels of a CDC recommendation this month that there be an expansion of HIV prevention medication to close the gap on PrEP implementation.
In a release, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIHAID) also made a nod to the FDA approval, saying in part, “These medications are highly effective at preventing HIV when taken daily as prescribed, however, taking a pill daily while feeling healthy can be challenging.” Adding, “Long-acting injectable cabotegravir PrEP is a less frequent, more discreet HIV prevention option that may be more desirable for some people.”
Former Mötley Crüe singer John Corabi is releasing an autobiography.
The book, titled Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, will be released June 2022, and finds Corabi telling the story of his life “from the mean streets of Philadelphia to the Sunset Strip,” including tales from his days in Crüe, as well as his other musical endeavors.
A publisher’s escription for Horseshoes and Hand Grenades reads, “Whether it’s detailing his parents difficult divorce, his family’s dark history of abuse, his run-in with a serial killer, or simply the best way to arrive at a wedding — which maybe is by helicopter and maybe it isn’t — [Corabi] pulls no punches and outlines the good and bad of it all in this raucous autobiography.”
Corabi joined Mötley Crüe in 1992 after the band parted ways with founding vocalist Vince Neil. He sang on Mötley’s 1994 self-titled album before being fired himself in 1996, after which Neil rejoined.
(DENVER) — Truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos was sentenced on Dec. 13 to 110 years in prison for a 2019 fiery crash just outside Denver that killed four people and injured several others – a sentence that the judge in the case said he wouldn’t have chosen if he had the discretion.
A spokesman for the Colorado First Judicial District Attorney’s Office told ABC News on Tuesday afternoon that the DA’s office “filed a motion to start the reconsideration process” of the sentence on Friday afternoon, and Jefferson County District Attorney Alexis King has requested that the court set a new hearing “as soon as practicable.”
“As Colorado law required the imposition of the sentence in this case, the law also permits the Court to reconsider its sentence in an exceptional case involving unusual and extenuating circumstances,” the motion says.
Mederos, who was 23 years old at the time of the crash, was charged with 42 counts and was found guilty on 27 – the most serious of which was first degree assault.
Prosecutors sought the minimum penalties for each of the charges — the highest of which is 10 years, but the number of the charges and a law that says that some have to be served consecutively resulted in the lengthy sentence.
Progressive prosecutors aim to change the criminal justice system from the inside
“The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution says punishments can’t be cruel and unusual, and as far as Mr. Mederos is concerned, this is a cruel and unusual punishment,” Mederos’ attorney, James Colgan, told ABC News Tuesday.
A Change.org petition advocating for a commutation for Mederos, indicating that the crash was “not intentional,” was signed by more than 4.5 million people as of Tuesday afternoon, becoming one of fastest growing petitions on the website.
Mederos was driving a semitrailer loaded with lumber along a highway in Lakewood, Colorado, on April 25, 2019.
Those killed in the crash on Interstate 70 were Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano, 24; William Bailey, 67; Doyle Harrison, 61; and Stanley Politano, 69.
Prosecutors argued during the trial that Mederos could have taken a runaway truck ramp after losing control of his brakes, instead of driving into traffic.
Colgan said that his client “may have made some negligent mistakes,” but the punishment is “completely disproportionate to what happened.”
“What he did does not deserve a life sentence,” he said.
Why the judge didn’t have a choice
Ian Farrell, a professor of law at the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver, said that this case has sparked outrage because Mederos “got the same sentence as someone who intentionally killed 100 people would have gotten in Colorado.”
“In every state in the country, which doesn’t have the death penalty, the maximum possible sentence is a life sentence,” Farrell said.
A Jefferson County jury found Mederos guilty of six counts of first-degree assault, 10 counts of attempted first-degree assault, four counts of vehicular homicide, four counts of careless driving causing death, two counts of vehicular assault and one count of reckless driving.
“I will state that if I had the discretion, it would not be my sentence,” the district court judge, A. Bruce Jones, said during the sentencing. ABC News has reached out to Jones but a request for comment was not responded to.
Mederos was sentenced to 10 years each for six counts of first degree assault, as well as five years each for 10 counts of attempted first degree assault, resulting in the 110-year sentence.
“When the judge said he didn’t have discretion, he was accurate,” Colgan said.
Jones was bound by “sentence enhancers” that are outlined in Colorado law, Farrell said, pointing to mandatory minimum penalties for certain crimes and certain classifications that enhance penalties for violent crimes.
Under Colorado law, first degree assault and attempted first degree assault are classified as “crimes of violence,” Farrell said, which mandates that an individual convicted of more than two “crimes of violence” serve the sentences consecutively, not concurrently.
“One of the things that the sentence enhances and mandatory minimums do is it takes power away from the judge, and gives it to the prosecutor,” Farrell said.
Since vehicular homicide, a class four felony, and the remaining lesser charges are not classified as “crimes of violence,” Colgan said that the judge “had discretion to run [them] concurrently, which he did.”
Prosecutors face backlash
Asked about the backlash over the number of charges and the length of the sentence, District Attorney King told ABC News in a statement on Tuesday that prosecutors “initiated plea negotiations but Mr. Aguilera-Mederos declined to consider anything other than a traffic ticket.”
“The actions and decisions of Mr. Mederos resulted in the loss of four lives, devastating injuries to the survivors and – as we heard them state during the sentencing hearing – grave impacts to their families and loved ones,” King said.
Colgan argued Mederos was “overcharged” in an attempt to “coerce” him into pleading guilty.
Domingo Garcia, President of the League of United Latin American Citizens, told ABC News he believes that “racial bias played a big part” in Mederos’ case, pointing to the fact that he is a Cuban immigrant who used a translator during the trial.
Farrell said that it’s “impossible to know” if racial bias played a part, but “Black and brown people are overcharged [and] over sentenced in every different area of the law.”
PHOTO: District Attorney Alexis King speaks during a news conference in Golden, Colo., Nov. 8, 2021.
David Zalubowski/AP, FILE
David Zalubowski/AP, FILE
District Attorney Alexis King speaks during a news conference in Golden, Colo., Nov. 8, 2021.
King’s office did not comment directly on the allegations of racial bias when asked by ABC News, but said in a statement that “the sentence – which our office requested the minimum for – is within the purview of the court and reflects the judgment of the legislature.”
“Just as the law mandates this outcome, it also provides future opportunity to revisit the sentence, and we will again pursue an appropriate outcome if that opportunity arises, after consulting with the victims and survivors and receiving their input,” King said.
Derek Chauvin wants to go to federal prison, even though it means he’ll do more time
Seeking a commutation
On the witness stand, Mederos expressed remorse for those who were killed and injured in the crash and said that the accident was unintentional and he is “not a criminal.”
“I want to say sorry. Sorry for the loss, for the people injured. I know they have trauma, I know, I feel that,” he said while crying.
“But please, don’t be angry with me … I was working hard for a better future for my family. I have never thought about hurting anybody in my entire life,” Mederos, who emigrated from Cuba to the U.S. at the age of 19, said.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said during a press conference on Tuesday that he received a clemency application from Mederos’ attorney.
Clemency could mean commutation or a pardon but Colgan told ABC News Tuesday morning he is “actively seeking a commutation” and not a pardon at this time.
Conor Cahill, the press secretary for Polis, told ABC News on Sunday before the application was received that Polis “would expedite consideration.”
A spokesman for LULAC, one of the largest Latino civil rights organizations in the U.S, told ABC News on Tuesday that the organization is set to meet with Polis on Wednesday morning to advocate for Mederos.
Asked if he plans to appeal the case, Colgan said that “everything’s on the table.”
Courtesy of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
U2, Brian Wilson, Van Morrison and Carole King are among the music artists that have made the shortlist to be nominated for a Best Original Song award for the 2022 Oscars.
Among the finalists in the Best Original Song category are U2’s Sing 2 track “Your Song Saved My Life”; “Right Where I Belong,” from the Wilson documentary Long Promised Road, which the Beach Boys legend co-wrote with My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James; Morrison’s “Down to Joy,” from the film Belfast; and “Here I Am (Singing My Way Home),” which King co-wrote with Jennifer Hudson and Jamie Hartman for the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect. Hudson, of course, is the star of the latter film.
Meanwhile, a few music-related movies also were chosen for the shortlist of the Best Documentary Feature prize, including the Todd Haynes-directed The Velvet Underground, about the influential Lou Reed-led rock band, and the Questlove-directed Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), about the star-studded 1969 music festival in Harlem, New York, that came to be known as “Black Woodstock.”
The 2022 Oscar nominees will be announced February 8. The ceremony takes place March 27 on ABC.
Michael B. Jordan admits he’s avoided love stories in the past. However, now he’s starring in a romantic film, A Journal for Jordan, which opens Christmas Day.
In Journal for Jordan, Michael B. stars as First Sergeant Charles King, serving in Irag, who’;s in a relationship with writer Dana Canedy, portrayed by Chanté Adams. She’spregnant with their son, and King keeps a journal of advice for the baby.
“I journal a lot,” Jordan tells BLACKPRINT. “So understanding the thought process behind leaving words and lessons in a journal for somebody to read later, I just love the idea of that. I connect with that personally.”
In other news, Michelle Obama has joined with several celebrity mothers to promote COVID-19 vaccinations.
Alicia Keys’ mom Terria Joseph, Zendaya’s mother Claire Stoermer, John David Washington’s mom, PaulettaWashington, and more star in a new PSA with the former first lady, titled “Get Vaccinated — Mom Said So.”
“You don’t need to be a mom to be a superhero,” Obama says. “You can keep yourself and those around you safe by getting your COVID vaccine or booster today.”
Finally, Ludacris has been hiding his identity and donating in person to the homeless to disprove his father’s belief that they would use the money to buy liquor.
“I’ve been masked up/disguised experimenting in these streets, and giving the homeless food gift cards instead so that they have more of an incentive to buy food,” Luda commented on Instagram. In a video, the 44-year-old entertainer gave a man in a motorized chair a $50 gift card to go to the food store a few feet away. Ludacris wished him “Merry Christmas,” and told him, “Go on in.”
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 809,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 61.6% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Latest headlines:
-Biden calls out those spreading misinformation ‘that can kill their own customers’
-New York City has highest new case rate in US
-Biden to announce plan to send 500 million free rapid tests to Americans
-Fauci on omicron’s ‘unprecedented’ spread
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Dec 21, 4:36 pm
New Hampshire hospital seeing record-high number of patients
Elliot Hospital in New Hampshire is now seeing three to four times as many patients as it had at the beginning of the pandemic, Dr. Laura McPhee told ABC News.
She said their ICU is full with COVID-19 patients and staff is running thin.
“We’re tired. It’s been extremely hard on everybody,” McPhee said, stressing that “most of the patients that we’re seeing are unvaccinated.”
“Most days I’ve been angry and frustrated. … Because this is preventable. It doesn’t have to happen,” she said. “I’ve not ever seen a patient here in the ICU who has been fully vaccinated with a booster.”
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 21, 4:08 pm
Inmates on home confinement due to pandemic can stay out of prison, DOJ says
About 4,000 nonviolent inmates placed under home confinement due to COVID-19 will not be forced to return to prison at the expiration of the public health emergency, as long as officials determine they have not broken rules and made rehabilitative progress during the period of their release, the Justice Department said.
The announcement follows an extensive review by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel that for months weighed whether there was any way to keep the inmates placed on home confinement from being forced back into incarceration. An earlier OLC opinion released during the final days of the Trump administration determined they would have to return to prison within a month of the emergency’s expiration.
ABC News’ Alexander Mallin
Dec 21, 3:42 pm
Biden calls out those spreading misinformation ‘that can kill their own customers’
With omicron now the dominant variant in the U.S., President Joe Biden said in a public address Tuesday, “If you’re not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned.”
“The unvaccinated have a significantly higher risk of ending up in a hospital — or even dying,” he said.
Biden said “the unvaccinated are responsible for their own choices” but also blamed “dangerous misinformation on cable TV and social media.”
“These companies and personalities are making money by peddling lies and allowing misinformation that can kill their own customers and their own supporters. It’s wrong. It’s amoral,” he said. “I call on the purveyors of these lies and misinformation to stop it.”
When reporters confronted the president about people struggling to find tests before the holidays, Biden said omicron “spread even more rapidly than anybody thought.”
Biden said the omicron surge created a “big rush” for tests and that this does not resemble a “failure” from the administration.
Biden announced a new plan to distribute 500 million free at-home rapid tests to Americans beginning in January. The free at-home rapid tests will be delivered by mail to Americans who request them. Americans will have to request the tests through a website that will launch in January.
The federal government is also opening more testing sites and mobilizing 1,000 military doctors and nurses to overburdened hospitals.
Even if you don’t know what an NFT is, you want one for free, right? Then sign up for Rob Thomas‘ newsletter.
The singer is giving away his first-ever batch of NFTs to fans who sign up for his newsletter by Christmas Day. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, give you the ability to own a unique piece of digital art. In this case, that art is a little video that shows the cover of Rob’s holiday album Something About Christmas Time, along with his signature and a “Merry Christmas” wish.
If you sign up, on Christmas Day, you’ll get an email from Rob telling how you can redeem the NFT. One lucky fan will randomly receive the rarest version — the “Gold Certificate” NFT — while 100 fans will get the “Silver” one, and 1,000 will receive the “Bronze” one. Everyone else will get “Blue” one.
In other festive Rob Thomas news, he’s recorded a version of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” for your listening pleasure. Find it on his social media accounts.
(NEW YORK) — In an effort to stop bad behavior on planes, unruly passengers could lose their TSA PreCheck privileges.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is partnering with TSA to share information on passengers facing fines for unruly behavior. After receiving the information, TSA said it can then remove those passengers from its PreCheck program.
“If you act out of line, you will wait in line,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said.
The FAA has been cracking down on the unfriendly skies for almost a year, taking a “zero-tolerance approach.” The agency has warned passengers that they could face hefty fines as much as $37,000 for interfering with a flight crew.
Despite the crackdown, there has been a record number of unruly incidents on flights; this year alone the FAA has received 5,664 reports of which 4,000 were mask related.
“Our partnership aims to promote safe and responsible passenger behavior,” Dickson said. “One unruly incident is one too many.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden detailed further steps his administration will take to slow the spread of omicron in an address to the nation on Tuesday, including an effort to distribute 500 million free at-home rapid tests to Americans next month, dispatch military members to overburdened hospitals and continue the push to vaccinate and boost all Americans.
“I want to start by acknowledging how tired, worried and frustrated I know you are,” Biden began in his address to the nation from the White House. “For many of you, this will be the first or even the second Christmas we look across the table to see an empty kitchen chair.”
He acknowledged that the highly transmissible omicron variant, which became the most dominant COVID strain in the country Monday, was raising concerns just as travel kicks off at nearly pre-pandemic levels for the holiday season.
“If you’re not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned,” Biden said. “Almost everyone who has died from COVID-19 in the past many months has been unvaccinated. Unvaccinated.”
“You’re putting other people at risk — your loved ones, your friends, neighbors, strangers,” he said to unvaccinated Americans. “You may think you’re putting only yourself at risk. But, it’s your choice. Your choice is not just about you, it affects other people. You’re putting other people at risk. Your loved ones, your friends, neighbors, strangers you run into, and your choice can be the difference between life or death. The longer the virus is around, the more likely variants form that may be deadlier than the ones that have come before,” he said.
For vaccinated Americans, the message was starkly different. Biden encouraged spending time with family.
“If you are vaccinated and follow the precautions that we all know well, you should feel comfortable celebrating Christmas and the holidays as you planned it,” he said.
But he also acknowledged the risks of higher breakthrough cases in the weeks and months to come, stemming from omicron’s many mutations able to escape vaccine protections.
“Because omicron spreads so easily, we’ll see some fully vaccinated people get COVID, potentially in large numbers. There will be positive cases in every office, even here in the White House among among the vaccinated,” he said.
“But these cases are highly unlikely to lead to serious illness. Vaccinated people who get COVID may get ill, but they’re protected from severe illness and death. That’s why you should still remain vigilant.”
Still, the president rejected the idea that the U.S. would go back to March 2020 or impose new lockdowns.
“The best thing to do is get fully vaccinated and get your booster shot — and no, this is not March of 2020. Two hundred million people are fully vaccinated. We’re prepared. We know more. We just have to stay focused,” Biden said.
In his ongoing push to get hesitant Americans vaccinated and boosted, Biden also mentioned that former President Donald Trump this week said he had gotten his booster shot.
“Maybe one of the few things he and I agree on,” Biden said.
He also gave the Trump administration a nod on vaccine development.
“Let me be clear, thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, America was one of the first countries to get the vaccine,” Biden said. “Thanks to my administration and the hard work of Americans, we led a rollout that made America among the world leaders in getting shots and arms.”
Biden’s newest efforts on omicron, from more testing to help for strained hospitals
Part of Biden’s latest efforts will be free at-home rapid tests delivered by mail to Americans who request them, the president said, marking a slightly different approach from European countries that chose to send tests to all residents.
Americans will have to request the tests through a website that will launch in January and it’s not yet clear how many tests Americans will be able to request per household.
The move is a significant departure from the White House’s posture just two weeks ago, when White House press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed the idea of mailing tests to every American as costly and wasteful.
“Should we just send one to every American?” Psaki told a reporter on Dec. 6.
“Then what happens if every American has one test? How much does that cost, and then what happens after that?” Psaki said.
But the effort shows the consensus among White House officials on the need to improve the nation’s testing apparatus, which was caught unprepared by the perfect storm of high demand for pre-holiday testing and a surge of omicron cases.
As a result, Americans have faced long lines and empty shelves this week as they attempt to safely gather for the holidays in keeping with CDC guidance, which calls for families to use at-home rapid tests as an extra layer of prevention before gathering.
Fielding questions after his remarks, Biden rejected suggestions that it was a failure to not have the tests readily available in advance of the holidays.
“No, it’s not a failure, but the alarm bell went off. I don’t think anybody anticipated that this was going to be as rapidly spreading as it did,” he said.
But experts have long been warning that new variants are always on the horizon. Since omicron was detected last month, many have urged the Biden administration to move away from a strategy that solely prioritizes vaccination and to beef up other prevention measures, such as testing or mask mandates.
“Scientists have been warning about the potential for new variants to come along for a year now or more. And we’ve known about omicron since the day before Thanksgiving. It’s been weeks at this point,” said Dr. Sam Scarpino, managing director of pathogen surveillance at the Rockefeller Foundation and a member of their Pandemic Prevention Institute.
Biden outlined other efforts in his speech on Tuesday, too, including new federal testing sites around the country — the first several of which will launch in New York City by Christmas — and mobilizing 1,000 military doctors and nurses to overburdened hospitals.
The military aid will be five times the current deployment and could be a big boost to hospitals that have been running on fumes for two years.
There are currently 175 troops deployed over four states, and since August 2021, when a joint military operation across the Army, Navy and Air Force began, about 530 medical military personnel have been deployed to work alongside civilian health care providers.
Tuesday marked the second time Biden had addressed the nation about the omicron variant in less than a month.
In November, Biden announced a winter COVID plan that included setting up more vaccination and booster clinics to encourage more Americans to get protected and increase testing by getting insurance companies to reimburse the cost of at-home tests.
The 500 million free at-home tests announced on Tuesday will be in addition to getting at-home tests reimbursed, which will go into effect on Jan. 15.
“I know you’re tired. I really mean this, and I know you’re frustrated. We all want this to be over. But we’re still in it,” Biden said Tuesday, closing out his speech. “This is a critical moment. But we also have more tools than we’ve ever had before. We’re ready. We’ll get through this. As we head into the holidays, I want us to all keep the faith.”
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a plan to distribute 500 million free at-home rapid tests to Americans beginning in January, doubling down on an effort to slow the spread of a highly transmissible variant that has hit the U.S. distressingly close to the holidays.
But he denied it was a failure not to have more tests already available as Americans wanted to get checked days before family gatherings.
“I want to start by acknowledging how tired, worried and frustrated I know you are,” Biden began in his address to the nation from the White House. “For many of you, this will be the first or even the second Christmas, we look across the table to see an empty kitchen chair.”
“If you’re not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned,” Biden went on, talking about the omicron variant, now the dominant strain in the U.S. “Almost everyone who has died from COVID-19 in the past many months has been unvaccinated. Unvaccinated.”
“You’re putting other people at risk — your loved ones, your friends, neighbors, strangers,” he said to unvaccinated Americans. “You may think you’re putting only yourself at risk. But, it’s your choice. Your choice is not just about you, it affects other people. You’re putting other people at risk. Your loved ones, your friends, neighbors, strangers you run into, and your choice can be the difference between life or death. The longer the virus is around, the more likely variants form that may be deadlier than the ones that have come before,” he said.
Still, the president rejected the idea that the U.S. would go back to March 2020 or impose new lockdowns, and said public health officials have the means this winter to keep schools open safely, for example.
“If you are vaccinated and follow the precautions that we all know well, you should feel comfortable celebrating Christmas and the holidays as you planned it,” he said.
“The best thing to do is get fully vaccinated and get your booster shot — and no, this is not March of 2020. Two hundred million people are fully vaccinated. We’re prepared. We know more. We just have to stay focused,” Biden added.
In his ongoing push to get hesitant Americans vaccinated and boosted, Biden also mentioned that former President Donald Trump this week said he had gotten his booster shot, adding, “Maybe one of the few things he and I agree on.”
He also gave the Trump administration a nod on vaccine development.
“Let me be clear, thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, America is one of the first countries to get the vaccine,” Biden said. “Thanks to my administration and the hard work of Americans, we led a rollout that made America among the world leaders in getting shots and arms.”
Biden’s new efforts come as the omicron variant became the most dominant COVID strain in the country Monday, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all cases, and just as travel kicks off at nearly pre-pandemic levels for the holiday season.
The Biden administration’s free at-home rapid tests will be delivered by mail to Americans who request them, Biden said, marking a slightly different approach from European countries that chose to send tests to all residents.
“Because Omicron spreads so easily, we’ll see some fully vaccinated people get COVID, potentially in large numbers. There will be positive cases in every office, even here in the White House,” he said, one day after the White House reported the president came in contact with a staffer who later tested positive.
“But these cases are highly unlikely to lead to serious illness. Vaccinated people who get COVID may get ill, but they’re protected from severe illness and death. That’s why you should still remain vigilant,” he said.
Pressed by reporters, Biden rejected suggestions it was a failure to not have the tests readily available in advance of the holidays.
“No, it’s not a failure, but the alarm bell went off. I don’t think anybody anticipated that this was going to be as rapidly spreading as it did,” he said.
Americans will have to request the tests through a website that will launch in January, a senior administration official said on Monday, and it’s not yet clear how many tests Americans will be able to request per household.
The move is a significant departure from the White House’s posture just two weeks ago, when White House press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed the idea of mailing tests to every American as costly and wasteful.
“Should we just send one to every American?” Psaki told a reporter on Dec. 6.
“Then what happens if every American has one test? How much does that cost, and then what happens after that?” Psaki said.
But the effort shows the consensus among White House officials on the need to improve the nation’s testing apparatus, which was caught unprepared by the perfect storm of high demand for pre-holiday testing and a surge of omicron cases.
As a result, Americans have faced long lines and empty shelves this week as they attempt to safely gather for the holidays in keeping with CDC guidance, which calls for families to use at-home rapid tests as an extra layer of prevention before gathering.
Fielding questions after his remarks, Biden was also asked what took so long to get tests out to Americans as the spread of omicron coincides with a greater need for testing ahead of the holidays.
“Come on, what took so long?” Biden quipped back at a reporter.
“Well, what took so long, is it didn’t take long at all. What happened was, the omicron virus spread even more rapidly than anybody thought,” Biden said.
Dr. Sam Scarpino, managing director of pathogen surveillance at the Rockefeller Foundation and a member of their Pandemic Prevention Institute, said the government could have seen this coming.
“Scientists have been warning about the potential for new variants to come along for a year now or more. And we’ve known about omicron since the day before Thanksgiving. It’s been weeks at this point,” he said.
There will be other actions to get ahead of omicron outlined in Biden’s speech on Tuesday, too, like new federal testing sites around the country — the first several of which will launch in New York City by Christmas — and mobilizing 1,000 military doctors and nurses to overburdened hospitals, the senior administration official said.
The military aid will be five-fold the current deployment and could be a big boost to hospitals that have been running on fumes for two years.
There are currently 175 troops spread over four states, and since August 2021, when a joint military operation across the Army, Navy and Air Force began, about 530 medical military personnel have been deployed to work alongside civilian health care providers.
Tuesday marked the second time Biden addresses the nation about the omicron variant in less than a month.
In November, Biden announced a winter COVID plan that included beefing up vaccination and booster clinics to encourage more Americans to get protected and increase testing by getting insurance companies to reimburse the cost of at-home tests.
The 500 million free at-home tests that will be announced on Tuesday will be in addition to getting at-home tests reimbursed, which will go into effect on Jan. 15.
Noticeably missing from the new government efforts will be any attempts to enact further restrictions or lockdowns — which some European countries have opted for as omicron has swept through their populations.
“I know you’re tired. I really mean this, and I know you’re frustrated. We all want this to be over. But we’re still in it,” Biden said in closing. “This is a critical moment. But we also have more tools than we’ve ever had before. We’re ready. We’ll get through this. As we head into the holidays, I want us to all keep the faith.”
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
