Coronavirus

President Biden Says It's A Pandemic For The Unvaccinated

The president says those who are vaccinated won't be hospitalized and die from virus.

President Biden Says It's A Pandemic For The Unvaccinated
Francisco Seco / AP
SMS

The White House says its biggest goal is getting more people vaccinated.  

Here's what President Biden said at a CNN town hall last night.  

 "It's real simple. We have a pandemic for those who haven't gotten a vaccination. It's that basic, " said the president. "If you are vaccinated, you're not going to be hospitalized, you're not going to be in an ICU unit, and you're not going to die. So it's gigantically important that we all act like Americans care about our fellow Americans." 

The push comes as COVID cases continue to go up. You can see the number of new infections climbing over the last two weeks. But the problem is vaccinations rates aren't keeping up. Take a look at this — you can see the line here — just about flat over the last month. A total of 56 percent of the U.S. population has gotten at least one shot.  

When we take a look at the bigger picture less than half the country is fully vaccinated.  

The lighter states on the map — those are the states that are most behind on vaccinations. But even in a state like Florida — where the vaccine rate is on pace with the national rate — there's worry as cases go up.