As Delta Variant Is Trying To 'Outsmart' US, President Biden Is Making An Effort To Vaccinate More Americans

American President Joe Biden announced the end of the Covid-19 related suffering in the United States on 4 July while celebrating what he called a "heroic" vaccination effort on the country's Independence Day holiday. But weeks later, when the cases started to rise, Biden's confidence seems to have faded away as he has now announced several new measures to combat the spread of the Delta variant in the country.

According to reports, along with a series of new Covid-19 measures, the President of the US requested states to offer $100 vaccine incentives, as well as gave directives for federal employees to produce proof of immunisation or wear masks. On 29 July, Biden took one of the most significant steps by demanding federal employees to choose between being vaccinated and strictly wearing a mask.

A statement from the White House said that these regulations should not be limited to federal employees or onsite contractors. It was also stated that Biden had directed his team to take steps to ensure that all federal contractors are held to the same high standards, and the administration will urge private sector firms to emulate this model.

Additionally, the statement reads: "Anyone who does not attest to being fully vaccinated will be required to wear a mask on the job no matter their geographic location, physically distance from all other employees and visitors, comply with a weekly or twice-weekly screening testing requirement, and be subject to restrictions on official travel."

As per the Financial Times, this latest announcement was met with scepticism by the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents 700,000 federal workers. It said: "Based on today's announcement, it is our understanding that under president Biden's proposal the vast majority of federal employees would not have to be vaccinated as a condition of employment, but that those who choose not to receive the vaccine may face certain restrictions."

Vaccine hesitancy has been a constant issue in the US and the Biden administration faced this obstacle while focusing on inoculating as many Americans as possible to end the pandemic. But as per the latest study, Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy among American adults fell by one-third in the first five months of this year. But mistrust of vaccines and the government continue to prevent many people from getting the jabs in the most pandemic affected country, which so far has reported, over 34,751,000 cases and more than 612,100 fatalities.

Biden earlier said that to reach more people who have not yet received vaccines, his administration will shift its focus from mass vaccination sites to a smaller and more community-based approach. Now, the President has urged states and local governments to use their share of the $350 billion in stimulus funds to provide vaccination incentives ranging from cash payments to vaccination lotteries.

He has also proposed a $100 cash reward for people who received immunisations. On 29 July, the Treasury Department confirmed that the stimulus funds could be used for vaccination incentives while adding that "programmes that provide incentives reasonably expected to increase the number of people who choose to get vaccinated, or that motivate people to get vaccinated sooner than they otherwise would have, are an allowable use of funds so long as such costs are reasonably proportional to the expected public health benefit".

Biden's latest statements illustrate White House officials' growing alarm about the Delta variant's growth in recent weeks that has shattered optimism about America's fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. This mutated version of the novel virus has not only triggered concern among the healthcare authorities in the United States but also posing a threat to the economy.

During the announcement, Biden called the present situation an "American tragedy" saying that "people are dying who don't have to die". He also stated that "right now, too many people are dying or watching someone they love die and say, 'If I'd just got the vaccine'".

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US, the number of cases in the country has recently surpassed 80,000 per day, up from an average of around 13,000 per day in late June. The most recent daily levels are higher than those recorded during the summer Covid-19 wave that primarily affected the sunbelt states in 2020.

Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama — these states have lower vaccination coverage than the national average. Even for the first time since February 2021, Texas recorded more than 10,000 new infections in a single day this week.

Meanwhile, CDC updated its mask-wearing recommendations on 27 July. In a reversal of its previous position, the CDC now recommends that some fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors if they live in areas where the virus is widespread.

Dr Rochelle Walensky, the CDC's director said: "The delta variant is showing every day its willingness to outsmart us. When we examine the rare breakthrough infections and we look at the amount of virus in those people, it is pretty similar to the amount of virus in unvaccinated people."

She also added that "unlike the alpha variant that we had back in May where we didn't believe that if you were vaccinated, you could transmit further, this is different now with a Delta variant".