On Tuesday, President Joe Biden dismissed questions about Americans’ concerns over COVID-19 vaccine mandates infringing on individual liberty.
“Your vaccine mandates have suffered some setbacks in court recently,” WHIOTV 7 reporter John Bedell said. “Federal judges have halted three of those COVID vaccine mandates.”
“Are you going to back down or are you going to continue to fight those in court?” Bedell asked.
“This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Not the vaccinated, the unvaccinated. That’s the problem,” Biden said. “Everybody talks about freedom about not to have a shot or have a test. Well guess what? How about patriotism? How about you make sure you’re vaccinated, so you do not spread the disease to anyone else.”
“What about that?” Biden continued. “What’s the big deal?”
Biden’s claims that “this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated” came shortly after a study from the University of California and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub found “no significant difference” in viral load between vaccinated and unvaccinated people who were infected with the Delta variant of COVID-19.
The study’s authors stated that their findings “strongly support the notion” that vaccine status should not “influence the recommendation and implementation of good public health practices, including mask wearing, testing, social distancing, and other measures designed to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2.”
