The Biden Administration will be deploying “Delta variant” response teams across the country to communities with low vaccination rates.
The teams will be made up of officials from the CDC, Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to CNN.
The government officials will be focused on communities with low vaccination rates as Biden’s goal of 70% vaccination by 4th of July falls short.
As of this week, only 47.2% of Americans are fully vaccinated.
CNN reported:
The White House has deployed similar response teams in the past, but this is the first time they are focused on the Delta variant, a White House official said. These response teams will conduct surge testing, provide therapeutics like monoclonal antibodies and deploy federal personnel to areas that need support staff for vaccinations.
The White House coronavirus team is spearheading this effort and officials expect the teams will help with everything from boosting testing, providing supplies and potentially increasing paid media efforts targeting regions where vaccinations are low.
While these response teams are being sent to prop up communities, officials believe vaccinations are the number one way to stop the spread and recognize there could be a limit to their efforts. Most US adults who plan to get vaccinated against Covid-19 have already done so, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report released this week.
Republican Senator Rand Paul (KY) pushed back on fearmongers using the “Delta” variant as a pretext to reimpose mask mandates and lockdowns.
Don’t let the fearmongers win. New public England study of delta variant shows 44 deaths out of 53,822 (.08%) in unvaccinated group. Hmmm.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 29, 2021