Sep 20, 2022 - Health

Biden clarifies comments declaring "pandemic over"

Rebecca Falconer

President Joe Biden speaks on the DISCLOSE Act during an event at the Roosevelt Room of the White House on September 20, 2022 in Washington, DC. — President Biden during an event at the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Tuesday. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Biden on Tuesday addressed comments he made during a "60 Minutes" interview this week in which he said "the pandemic is over," per a pool report.

Driving the news: Biden acknowledged at a New York City fundraiser that he was criticized for the remarks. "But it basically is not where it was," Biden added.

The president urged those in attendance to get booster shots if they hadn't already.

The big picture: Biden said in his "60 Minutes" that aired Sunday, "We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it ... but the pandemic is over."

At a protest outside the White House on Monday, organized by the nonprofit MEAction Network, campaigning for long COVID sufferers and people with myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome, demonstrators said their message to Biden was the pandemic was not over, The Hill reports.

By the numbers: There were 424,339 COVID-19 cases and 2,973 deaths from the virus in the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Go deeper: WHO chief says end of COVID pandemic "is in sight"

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Biden clarifies comments declaring "pandemic over"

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