A reporter asked during Wednesday's White House press briefing why President Joe Biden has not focused more on scolding Americans who are not vaccinated for COVID-19.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki replied by noting a majority of Americans have gotten a least one shot in the year President Joe Biden has been in office.
REPORTER: "Why hasn't the president focused more on scolding the unvaccinated...?" pic.twitter.com/YN3lF8zNz2
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 5, 2022
Reporter citing French President Macron on running "the unvaccinated" out of society: Why hasn't the president worked on scolding the unvaccinated?
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) January 5, 2022
Psaki: Obviously the French will make their own decisions.
The increased hostile rhetoric against those who are not vaccinated comes as the United States, and much of the world, is grappling with increased COVID-19 cases spurred by the Omicron variant. Though a milder strain, it is more infectious and those who are vaccinated can still contract it.
Arthur Caplan, the director of Medical Ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told CNN on Wednesday more things need to be done to punish Americans who are not vaccinated.
"We can penalize them more, say you will have to pay more on your hospital bill if you're not vaccinated. You can’t get life insurance or disability insurance at affordable rates if you aren’t vaccinated. Those companies should not treat us as equals in terms of the financial burdens that that disease imposes. So I can think of a number of ways in which we can say here’s the stick, get on board," Caplan said.
