Is the pandemic over? Biden says it is.

In an interview with 60 Minutes, President Biden said the Covid-19 pandemic is over in the United States. 

“We still have a problem with Covid…but the pandemic is over,” the President explained.

Biden’s comments come a few weeks after his administration asked Congress for an additional $22.4 billion to maintain testing and vaccination efforts. The administration is still recommending that Americans get the updated booster to get ahead of a fall and winter wave of the virus. 

Covid-19 is still designated as a Public Health Emergency by the US and the World Health Organization (WHO). The director-general of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, echoed the President’s comments in a news briefing and agreed that the end of the pandemic was in sight.

While WHO and Biden might be in agreement, some health experts have expressed their dismay at the President’s comments as Covid deaths still sit at about 400-500 people per day. People like Eric Topol of Scripps Research Translational Institute and World Health Network Founder, Eric Feigl-Ding, say Biden is ignoring the effects of long Covid and the threat of new variants that could emerge.