President Joe Biden ruled out fresh lockdowns as a response to a new variant of Covid-19 but told reporters at a Monday press conference that his administration was looking into the possibility of additional vaccine booster shots.

“I’ll be putting forward a detailed strategy outlining how we’re going to fight Covid this winter,” Biden said, promising another press conference on Thursday. “Not with shutdowns or lockdowns, but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing, and more.”

To date, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration have approved booster shots developed by Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, adding a third dose to the two-shot series from Pfizer and Moderna and a second dose to the J&J regimen.

But Biden said the federal response to Covid-19’s Omicron included looking at the possibility of adding new boosters in the future, saying the feds were working with all three companies “to develop contingency plans for vaccines or boosters.”

“I expect the new normal to be everyone ends up getting vaccinated with a booster shot, so we’ve reduced the number of people who aren’t protected to such a low degree that we’re not seeing the spread of these viruses,” he added later in the conference. “It remains to be seen what the elements of this particular strain are, but if they are as I hope, then it’s not going to be fundamentally different than in the past.”

Previously Biden urged calm and not to panic amid news of the new omicron variant.

Watch above via CNN.

The post Biden Rules Out New Lockdowns in Response to Omicron But Predicts ‘New Normal’ for Vaccines, Says Administration Looking at Further Boosters first appeared on Mediaite.

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