[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 6, 2022)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 19779-19780]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-07444]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 66 / Wednesday, April 6, 2022 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 19779]]


                Proclamation 10363 of April 1, 2022

                
National Public Health Week, 2022

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Each year, National Public Health Week provides a 
                chance for all of us to come together to restore and 
                strengthen the public health of our Nation. As we have 
                seen so starkly over the past 2 years, public health is 
                essential to every part of our National life--not only 
                to the safety and well-being of our families and 
                communities but also to our prosperity. This week, we 
                celebrate the progress we have made to revitalize our 
                public health, recommit ourselves to the work that 
                still remains, and recognize all of the remarkable 
                health care workers and public health professionals 
                whose extraordinary sacrifice and courage on the front 
                lines have carried our Nation through one of the most 
                difficult periods in our history.

                Thanks to our brave and dedicated public health and 
                health care workforce, the resilience of the American 
                people, and our comprehensive strategy to tackle COVID-
                19, our Nation is far better positioned today than we 
                were a year ago. Vaccines and boosters have been proven 
                to offer the highest level of protection--and today, 
                more than 250 million Americans have stepped up to 
                protect themselves and their communities by getting at 
                least one shot, saving more than a million American 
                lives. We are ready with millions of antiviral 
                treatments that reduce your chance of ending up in the 
                hospital by 90 percent. We are continuing to vaccinate 
                the world, having sent over half a billion vaccine 
                doses to 114 countries with more to come.

                My Administration has made hundreds of millions of 
                tests available for Americans to order directly to 
                their homes for free. We have successfully reopened 
                schools and businesses across the country, most 
                Americans can now go safely mask-free, and together we 
                are moving forward safely back to more normal routines. 
                We have positioned ourselves well to detect and prepare 
                for new variants and have more tools to protect people 
                than ever before--but making sure these tools are 
                readily available requires additional funding from the 
                Congress. We urgently need the Congress to provide the 
                funding we have requested to maintain our preparedness 
                against COVID-19 and ensure the American people 
                continue to have access to treatments, vaccines, and 
                tests. The consequences of inaction are severe and 
                immediate, and they will only get more significant over 
                time.

                While COVID-19 remains a top public health priority, we 
                are committed to a full range of efforts to improve the 
                Nation's general health, safety, and resilience. Last 
                year, through the American Rescue Plan and other 
                actions, we expanded access to--and lowered the cost 
                of--quality health care for millions of Americans. In 
                addition, we made new investments in mental health 
                services; innovative health care technologies; our 
                public health and health care workforce; and maternal, 
                infant, and early childhood programs. Through the 
                Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are also helping to 
                address long-standing health inequities that have 
                burdened communities of color and low-income 
                neighborhoods for far too long. Because of this law, we 
                are beginning to replace poisonous lead pipes so that 
                every child, in every home and school in America, 
                finally has clean water to drink. By making landmark 
                investments in public transit and delivering high-

[[Page 19780]]

                speed internet to every single community in the 
                country, we are also making health care and telehealth 
                services more accessible to each and every family.

                Of course, there is much more that we need to do to 
                improve our public health and build a better America. 
                As we continue our fight to defeat the pandemic, we 
                must also continue to expand health coverage and lower 
                the cost of health care for every family--including the 
                cost of prescription drugs like insulin. We must make 
                transformational investments in our climate resilience 
                and continue to address dangerous environmental 
                injustices that threaten public health and have hit 
                communities of color the hardest. We must take 
                commonsense steps to address the public health epidemic 
                of gun violence, which disproportionately impacts Black 
                Americans. We must come together to address the toll 
                that the mental health epidemic takes on America's 
                children, deliver the physical and mental health care 
                that our veterans and service members deserve, and make 
                landmark investments to spark breakthroughs in our 
                fight against cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and other 
                diseases.

                During National Public Health Week, we recommit 
                ourselves to reaching these goals--to improve our 
                public health and, in so doing, improve our safety and 
                security, our economic strength, the equity and 
                fairness of our Nation, and our quality of life. 
                Together, we share our appreciation to all those who 
                safeguard the Nation's public health through acts of 
                service and those who seek to strengthen communities by 
                fostering equitable opportunities for all. My 
                Administration encourages all Americans to do their 
                part for public health--especially by getting 
                vaccinated and receiving a booster shot, if eligible. 
                It takes all of us to preserve the health of our 
                Nation, and together we are poised to make tremendous 
                progress to build a better, stronger, and healthier 
                America.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws 
                of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 4 
                through April 10, 2022, as National Public Health Week. 
                I call on all citizens, government agencies, private 
                businesses, non-profit organizations, and other groups 
                to take action to improve the health of our Nation.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                first day of April, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-two, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                sixth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2022-07444
Filed 4-5-22; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F2-P