President Joe Biden lashed out Tuesday at certain cable news networks and social media outlets, calling them “purveyors of lies and misinformation” and instructing them to “stop it now.”
Biden delivered a public address on the rise of the Omicron variant and his administration’s plan to increase vaccine-booster availability and address testing shortages, and he began by claiming that the pandemic was still largely being driven by those who had not yet been vaccinated.
Everything Biden says here is false. pic.twitter.com/PeT0I2lP66
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 21, 2021
Noting that there were still some children under the age of five who did not yet have access to the vaccines, Biden argued that the best thing everyone else could do was to get vaccinated and boosted so that those younger children would be surrounded by vaccinated people.
“Again, for folks who are not vaccinated, you may think you’re putting only yourself at risk, but it’s your choice. Your choice is not just a choice about you. It affects other people. You are putting other people at risk. Your loved ones, your friends, neighbors, strangers you run into. And your choice can be the difference between life or death,” Biden claimed. “The longer the virus is around, the more likely variants form, and they may be deadlier than the ones that have come before.”
“Let me say again and again and again, please, get vaccinated. It is the only responsible thing to do. Those who are not vaccinated are causing hospitals to overrun, to become overrun again,” Biden continued, claiming that unvaccinated people were getting COVID and taking hospital beds that were then unavailable for people suffering from heart attacks or cancer.
Biden gave a nod to former President Donald Trump and Operation Warp Speed, adding, “Thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, America was one of the first countries to get the vaccine. Thanks to my administration and the hard work of Americans, we led a roll-out and made America among the world leaders in getting shots in arms.”
He went on to note that people became more resistant to the vaccine as the summer approached, blaming their hesitance on cable news — although he did not name a specific network — and social media.
“Look, the unvaccinated are responsible for their own choices, but those choices have been fueled by dangerous misinformation on cable TV and social media. You know, these companies and personalities are making money by peddling lies and allowing this information that can kill their own customers and their own supporters. It’s wrong. It’s a immoral. I call on the purveyors of these lies and misinformation to stop it. Stop it now,” he said.
Biden notes that many Americans remain unvaccinated because of “dangerous misinformation” on cable TV and social media: “I call on the purveyors of these lies and misinformation to stop it, stop it now…” pic.twitter.com/UqawLeScSI
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) December 21, 2021