Biden admin bracing for up to 70K COVID deaths this winter as booster uptake flops

The Biden administration is struggling to focus on the Pandemic as the fall booster campaign drags and the latest models project that tens of thousands of Americans will die this winter of Covid-19.

"This year, nearly every COVID-19 death is preventable," President Biden said just before rolling up his sleeve to get his own updated COVID-19 booster.

Few Americans are following his example. The White House believes that a soft deadline for Americans to get their updated, bivalent COVID-19 booster will allow for the immune system to mount maximal antibody and other immune responses before the fall and winter holidays. Only 6 percent of the people who are eligible for the shot have received it, despite the fact that it is free and available to everyone.

White House officials told The Washington Post that the administration is bracing for between 30,000 and 70% of COVID-19 deaths to be preventable with vaccines, treatments, and tried-and-true health measures. The lower bound of the death toll estimate shows that there are still many deaths.

The immune-evading omicron subvariants have been warned of coming winter waves. BQ. 1.1 and XBB are the most concerning. BQ. 1.1 is poised to become dominant in the US in the next few weeks and experts say it could help drive a winter wave of infections.

Plans and apathy

There is a chance of an unforeseen variant emerging and sweeping the planet like the original omicron did last year. Omicron didn't grab international attention until the end of November, but by the end of December, it was already killing tens of thousands of people in the US.

The White House chief of staff held an urgent meeting last week to try to reverse the country's course, according to officials. The meeting came to an end with the announcement of the "Fall Playbook". The plan includes targeted outreach to get more seniors and other vulnerable people boosted, as well as getting Walgreens, DoorDash, and Uber to work together to offer free delivery of COVID-19 treatments, such as Paxlovid.

Many of the administration's actions have worked against their current efforts to get more Americans to take the ongoing Pandemic seriously and keep up to date on their vaccinations. The White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been criticized for shifting the focus of health policies from public health to personal choices. There was a time last month when President Biden said that the swine flu was over.

Many Americans aren't interested in the state of the Pandemic and don't want to get more involved. Some are not sure. A survey done by the Kaiser Family Foundation last month found that 40 percent of fully-vaccinated adults didn't know if the bivalent booster was a good idea. Bivalent boosters are recommended for all adults as well as people who are 5 years old and up. Only 33 percent of adults plan on getting a bivalent booster at some point in the future, according to a poll.