Biden urges vaccinations as Delta variant threat rises

For a politician who was once known for meandering and going off message, President Biden has been remarkably consistent in his coronavirus messaging, which for several months now has consisted mostly of two words: Get vaccinated. He repeated that message again in pandemic-related remarks from the White House. "We can't get complacent," Biden said. "Now, the best thing you can do to protect yourself and your family and the people you care about the most is get vaccinated."

In many ways, the vaccination effort has been a remarkable success. Infection rates have plummeted in recent months and are a small fraction of what they were in January, at the peak of the pandemic's third wave. With more than 157 million Americans fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States has one of the best inoculation rates in the world.

But the very need for

Biden to continue to make the case underscores the prevalent belief that plenty of work remains, especially in the face of the more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus. The growing prevalence of that variant should "cause everybody to think twice," Biden said, "and it should cause reconsideration especially in young people who may have thought that they didn't have to be vaccinated - didn't have to worry about it."

People in their 20s have been one pocket of resistance, which may explain why Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president's top medical adviser, was recently promoting vaccination on TikTok and YouTube, social media platforms popular with younger people.

About 7 million adolescents have been vaccinated, according to the CDC. Children under 12 are not yet eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

Biden has enjoyed high approval ratings for his handling of the pandemic, even as conservatives criticize him for not reopening segments of society quickly enough. Without the widespread ability of vaccines (which were developed in part by the Trump administration), any reopening would have been much more fraught.

On July 4, Biden said the nation was "closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus."

The White House marked the holiday with an in-person celebration notably not conducted over Zoom calls. At the same time, the president failed to meet his own goal of having 70 percent of American adults vaccinated by the holiday weekend, in what would have been a symbolic victory for his young administration.

Biden had declared June a "national month of action" intended to meet that goal, rolling out a bevy of initiatives and incentives meant to encourage people to get their shots. Many states ramped up efforts of their own, offering alcohol, cash and other such enticements. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice asked people to get vaccinated for Babydog, his pet English bulldog.