Tipsheet

Reporter Grills Psaki: How Is Biden's Ban on African Countries Not Racist?

Katie Pavlich
Katie Pavlich  |  December 09, 2021 4:00 PM

Speaking to reporters at the White House Thursday afternoon, Press Secretary Jen Psaki was grilled over President Joe Biden's continued travel ban on a number of African countries. 

Biden's travel ban was issued two weeks ago when news broke from South Africa a new variant of Wuhan coronavirus had been discovered. 

"I've decided that we're going to be cautious, make sure there is no travel to and from South Africa and six other countries in that region and, except for American citizens who are able to come back," Biden told reporters. "I spent about a half hour this morning with my COVID team, led by Dr. Fauci.  And so that was the decision we made."

Since the ban was implemented, the variant has been detected in a number of states across the country and in Europe. Further, the South African doctor who announced the new variant to the world has been warning governments not to panic and reports cases of the disease have been mild.

"As chair of the South African Medical Association and a GP of 33 years’ standing, I have seen a lot over my medical career. But nothing has prepared me for the extraordinary global reaction that met my announcement this week that I had seen a young man in my surgery who had a case of Covid that turned out to be the Omicron variant," Doctor Angelique Coetzee recently wrote for the Daily Mail. "This version of the virus had been circulating in southern Africa for some time, having been previously identified in Botswana. But given my public-facing role, by announcing its presence in my own patient, I unwittingly brought it to global attention."

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"Quite simply, I have been stunned at the response – and especially from Britain. And let me be clear: nothing I have seen about this new variant warrants the extreme action the UK government has taken in response to it," she continued. "No one here in South Africa is known to have been hospitalised with the Omicron variant, nor is anyone here believed to have fallen seriously ill with it."