We've heard repeatedly from the White House that they "encourage" Americans to get yet another COVID booster, which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved earlier this month. President Joe Biden received his own, last week, or so we've been told. While the president has received previous doses in public during press conferences, that wasn't the case this time.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took a question during Monday's press briefing about such a decision for the president to have his COVID booster and flu vaccine out of the public eye.
"Isn’t this a time when, you know, given the promotion of boosters and how important they are that the public might want to see the president have one," the reported pointed out in asking his question.
Jean-Pierred pointed to the physician's memo that was posted to the White House website over the weekend, though it doesn't appear to be shared to the administration's accounts over X, including the White House's account, the official press secretary's account, or either of Biden's accounts.
In confirming "the president got his vaccination," Jean-Pierre blamed the private nature of receiving his vaccines on "an incredibly busy schedule." This is a president who not only calls lids very early in the day and can't be bothered to deal with the press, but who has spent 40 percent of his time in office on vacation.
There also appeared to be a sense of urgency at hand. "He’s got--he got his vaccination as--the earliest moment that he could. And that’s what we were able to do--work--that would work in his schedule. So that’s what happened last week," Jean-Pierre explained.
Not only did she claim the administration is "certainly engaged in a robust campaign," but, just as she did during a press briefing last month, Jean-Pierre emphasized "it is incredibly important to us that we encourage the public to get vaccinated." She then spoke to a "comprehensive kind of vaccination program that the president put forward from the beginning," despite how it was the Trump administration which put out the vaccine under Operation Warp Speed that allowed then President-Elect Joe Biden to receive his first dose, which he did receive in public.
As she continued to insist people get the booster as well as RSV and flu shots, Jean-Pierre claimed that Biden getting his booster in secret, "on his schedule... doesn’t stop us for having a robust engagement with the public to make sure that we get it across--the importance of folks getting their vaccines--not just the updated COVID vaccine, but also RSV, and-- and also the flu shot."
Karine Jean-Pierre says Biden received his "updated" COVID booster out of the public's view because "we thought we needed to get that done" pic.twitter.com/xMx2fKlFeM
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 25, 2023
This is truly a change in how Biden has received his previous doses of the vaccine in the past. When he received a booster in October of last year, he went for quite the sensational and fearful tone, just as he has done since the start of his administration as he spread fear about "a pandemic of the unvaccinated."
Biden has had COVID before, despite having been vaccinated. Further, even CNN has fact-checked his claims made about COVID, including about the unvaccinated.
While the FDA made this updated booster available two weeks ago, it has had a less than smooth rollout. People who showed up to get the booster were met with a nasty surprise of having to pay up to $200, since insurance was not yet covering the booster.
As POLITICO has covered, those working for the Biden administration have lamented anti-vaccine sentiment. The president's decision to get it done in private, and Jean-Pierre's inadequate response don't exactly help boost confidence.
As soon as Biden went down the road of "get vaccinated or lose your job" after people had their jobs already threatened for a year, that was it.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 20, 2023
Polling from earlier this month conducted by The Economist/You Gov, which we also covered, showed that a plurality of total respondents (39 percent) say they're not getting it, while 36 percent say they've already gotten it (1 percent) or want to get it (35 percent).
So secretive and full of lies is this White House, that Matt Margolis over at our sister site of PJ Media noted he was "skeptical" as to if the president event received his booster.