The new strategy for America's fight against the coronaviruses was outlined by President Joe Biden as he spoke on the Pandemic from the White House this week.
Biden pivoted toward a more endemic approach to the virus this week, where his administration had previously emphasized.
He took a multi-pronged approach on Tuesday, pushing to keep schools open, shoring up medical infrastructure to reduce deaths, and using Pfizer's coronaviruses pill to alleviate serious illness.
Biden said that with the vaccines and booster shots, you can control how big of an impact Omicron is going to have on your health.
He said that it's very unlikely that you become seriously ill.
Biden said that inoculated Americans should not be alarmed.
"If you're unvaccinated, you have some reason to be concerned," the president said. Many of you will experience severe illness if you don't get the vaccine. Some will die.
The health experts who worked on Biden's advisory board now recommend that he double down and focus on a new national strategy for the swine flu.
Six of his former advisers wrote opinion pieces in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Thursday, offering steps the US should take to prepare for another Pandemic.
They wrote in one article that the goal for the "new normal" with COVID-19 does not include eradication or elimination.
The goal is to recognize that the disease is one of several respiratory viruses that are circulating. The experts wrote that people have lived normally with the viruses, despite the fact that COVID-19 has resulted in more deaths and hospitalizations.
One suggestion was to set thresholds that compare COVID-19 weekly deaths, hospitalizations, and prevalence to other respiratory viruses. They wrote that the US can use the thresholds to recommend policies.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told The Wall Street Journal that Biden's ultimate goal is to defeat the virus.
She told Fox News that the president wanted to save as many lives as possible.
Biden told Americans to keep wearing masks. We're all tired and frustrated about the epidemic. "These coming weeks are going to be challenging."
There are a lot of reasons to be hopeful in 2020. "But for God's sake, please take advantage of what's available, please," he said.
