Remarks Prior to a Briefing on the Coronavirus Omicron Variant From Members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team

Hello, folks. I'm about to get a briefing from my COVID team on Omicron variant. And we got some encouraging news from Pfizer yesterday. Preliminary lab data has indicated—it shows that three doses of the Pfizer vaccine protects against the Omicron variant. And today we've got even more good news from the FDA and the CDC: 16- and 17-year-olds are eligible for boosters.

So my message is really very straightforward and simple. If you got vaccinated 6 months ago—and I say to all of you in the press as well, not a joke—I say to all of you: If you got vaccinated 6 months ago, get your booster right away.

We're seeing a lot more Americans do just that. Fifty million—50 million people are—now have gotten their booster shots. And we're getting people their booster shots at a record pace, roughly a million people a day. And America is making progress: 200 million with two shots, and more kids vaccinated than any country on Earth.

And we've got to—we've got a lot of work to do, but we're going to get through this. We're going to make it through this. And we're going to be okay, in my view.

And I'm about to get a briefing from my COVID team, as I said. So thanks. And I'm going to get the meeting started now.

Thank you.