Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2021

December 9, 2021

Hello, folks. I'm about to get a briefing from my COVID team on Omicron variant. And we got some encouraging news from Pfizer yesterday. Preliminary lab data has indicatedâit shows that three doses of the Pfizer vaccine protects against the Omicron variant. And today we've got even more good news from the FDA and the CDC: 16- and 17-year-olds are eligible for boosters.

So my message is really very straightforward and simple. If you got vaccinated 6 months agoâand I say to all of you in the press as well, not a jokeâI say to all of you: If you got vaccinated 6 months ago, get your booster right away.

We're seeing a lot more Americans do just that. Fifty millionâ50 million people areânow have gotten their booster shots. And we're getting people their booster shots at a record pace, roughly a million people a day. And America is making progress: 200 million with two shots, and more kids vaccinated than any country on Earth.

And we've got toâwe've got a lot of work to do, but we're going to get through this. We're going to make it through this. And we're going to be okay, in my view.

And I'm about to get a briefing from my COVID team, as I said. So thanks. And I'm going to get the meeting started now.

Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 4:57 p.m. in the State Dining Room at the White House.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Coronavirus Omicron variant, briefing from White House COVIDâ19 Response Team.

Locations: Washington, DC.

Subjects: Diseases : Coronavirus, domestic prevention efforts; Health and medical care : Research and development.

DCPD Number: DCPD202101036.

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