A Yale professor wrote a scathing review of President Joe Biden’s leadership during the pandemic in a Washington Post op-ed, saying the commander in chief is “failing on covid-19.”
Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health Gregg Gonsalves wrote he and others hoped Biden would have a “policy ‘reset’ to ramp up U.S. efforts as cases mount across the country. We hoped this would be the moment.”
“Sadly, what we saw this week was an administration floundering and a president not in command of facts or willing to shift course in any substantial way on the pandemic.”
Gonsalves said Biden’s encouragement to get the vaccine doesn’t extend far enough to solve the issues the nation is facing as the new variant, Omicron, becomes the dominant strain. The professor then criticized Biden for not articulating a plan to get millions of Americans the booster shot.
“We already know vaccines alone will not solve this problem,” Gonsalves wrote. “The president made a bet in March that vaccination could return the country to some semblance of normalcy, promising a ‘summer of freedom.’ But as the delta variant emerged, the highly transmissible strain tore through the country, outpacing the speed of our vaccination efforts.” (RELATED: Pressed To Be Tougher On China Over Covid Origins, Biden Simply Smiles And Walks Away)
Gonsalves then criticized Biden for not having a plan to make it easier for Americans to get N95 masks, not saying “a word” about ventilation and environmental controls or pushing global vaccination efforts. He also slammed the administration for not being clear on whether they have placed the order for approximately 500 million rapid tests to send to every American in January. The Biden administration said they would set up a website through which Americans can request a test, and the test will then be delivered to each home.
“Though he wanted to project competence, what we saw Tuesday was a White House playing catch-up and doing damage control after weeks of criticism, but still unable to fully commit to a national mobilization to put this pandemic behind us.”
During an address Tuesday, Biden deflected blame for the COVID-19 rapid test shortage, arguing Omicron caught the nation by surprise and no one was prepared.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 21: Merline Jimenez (L) provides direction before administering a COVID-19 nasopharyngeal swab to a person at a testing site located in the international terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) amid a surge in Omicron variant cases on December 21, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
“COVID is spreading so rapidly you notice it just happened almost overnight,” Biden said. “The alarm bell went off. I don’t think anybody anticipated that this was going to be as rapidly spreading as it did.”
Biden also told Americans they can safely celebrate Christmas so long as they’re vaccinated against COVID-19.
A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll found 53% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the coronavirus, a 16% drop since Biden took office and a 3% drop since late October.