Biden calls out those spreading misinformation 'that can kill their own customers'
With omicron now the dominant variant in the U.S., President Joe Biden said in a public address Tuesday, "If you're not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned."
"The unvaccinated have a significantly higher risk of ending up in a hospital -- or even dying," he said.
Biden said "the unvaccinated are responsible for their own choices" but also blamed "dangerous misinformation on cable TV and social media."
"These companies and personalities are making money by peddling lies and allowing misinformation that can kill their own customers and their own supporters. It's wrong. It's amoral," he said. "I call on the purveyors of these lies and misinformation to stop it."
When reporters confronted the president about people struggling to find tests before the holidays, Biden said omicron "spread even more rapidly than anybody thought."
Biden said the omicron surge created a "big rush" for tests and that this does not resemble a "failure" from the administration.
Biden announced a new plan to distribute 500 million free at-home rapid tests to Americans beginning in January. The free at-home rapid tests will be delivered by mail to Americans who request them. Americans will have to request the tests through a website that will launch in January.
The federal government is also opening more testing sites and mobilizing 1,000 military doctors and nurses to overburdened hospitals.
