President Joe Biden’s planned decision to attend the White House Correspondents Dinner was made in consultation with his doctors and health care team, press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday.
Psaki’s comments came amid a raft of uncertainty brought by the announcement of Vice President Kamala Harris’s positive COVID test, as well as Dr. Anthony Fauci’s statement that the U.S. is out of COVID’s “pandemic phase.”
Harris, who is asymptomatic, is continuing to carry out her vice presidential duties — including meetings and policy discussions — from home, Psaki said.
Psaki also said that Harris’s decision to vaccinate against COVID, and to receive two follow-up booster shots, greatly lessened the likelihood of serious COVID symptoms. She reiterated Dr, Fauci’s recent statement that the U.S. “is in a different phase of this pandemic,” while adding that “we also know COVID isn’t over and the pandemic isn’t over.”
Earlier Wednesday, CNN reported that Dr. Fauci was no longer planning to attend the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner event, a gala fundraiser celebrating journalists planned for April 30. That difference in plans led one reporter to ask Psaki if Biden was concerned that he would be seen as “not following the science” as the latest BA.2 COVID mutation spreads.
According to the CDC, the BA.2 subvariant accounts for about 75% of all new COVID cases in the U.S.; in total, COVID cases are trending upward, though hospitalization rates are at their lowest since the pandemic began.
“The president outlined a 100 page plan in March, intended to position us to go back to our more normal routines,” Psaki said. “But that requires making risk assessments and decisions about what you’re going to do, and what you’re going to attend and be a part of.”
Biden, she said, is likely to wear a mask when he isn’t speaking, and does not expect to attend for the dinner portion of the night’s event. The President will be there for the program of speakers, the presentation of scholarships, his own speech, and his expected roasting by comedian Trevor Noah.
“It’s a risk assessment, and the decision he made on a personal basis,” Psaki said.
That theme continued as reporters sought to understand why Harris opted to take Paxlovid, a COVID-19 therapy pill that was granted emergency authorization status by the FDA in December. Paxlovid was authorized for use in patients at high risk of severe COVID, and includes a five-day course of prescription pills.
“It’s important to note that Paxlovid is widely available across the country through people consulting with their doctors. It is not just a treatment that is available to only a small population of the public,” Psaki said. “In fact, our focus is more broadly educating people on how they may be eligible for it.”
