Analysis: Rising cases, Omicron highlight holes in Biden's COVID strategy, experts say

Dec 20 (Reuters) - Amid a new surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays, President Joe Biden is drawing criticism from health experts, who are calling for more urgency, testing, masking and global vaccine sharing.

Biden, a Democrat, took office in January pledging to get the coronavirus under control. He presided over a massive vaccine rollout and passed a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, a sharp contrast with his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, who downplayed the pandemic's severity, dismissed many preventive measures and undermined health experts.

Eleven months into Biden's term, however, the United States has recorded 800,000 COVID-19 deaths, over 300,000 of those on his watch, the highest total and per capita of the Group of Seven (G70 wealthiest nations. As the Omicron variant bears down and people gather for the holiday season, hospitals in some areas are seeing record high numbers of COVID-19 patients.

Biden's vaccination push has led to 65.2 percent of the eligible population being fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Republican-led opposition means that figure is less than 50% on some states. Less than 30% of the population has an additional booster shot believed necessary to protect against Omicron.

The administration needs to push mask wearing, increase pressure on companies to bring down the cost of tests, share technology on vaccines globally and secure more funding to fight the pandemic on a broad scale, health experts said. Many said the White House had let such measures slide while focusing on getting people inoculated.

"Where's the leadership that asks for national sacrifice at a time of emergency?" said Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of epidemiology at Yale University. Biden should "get on TV tonight and say: 'I want you to mask up.'" he said.

iden will speak on Tuesday about new plans, including driving home his message to unvaccinated Americans to get a shot and for those who are vaccinated to get a booster. read more

Broadway theaters, universities and professional sports leagues are already canceling or postponing events, reflecting the reality of a new COVID-19 wave.

UGLY U.S. POLITICS ON COVID

Biden's toughest challenge fighting the pandemic has been political.

Despite the abundance of free and safe vaccines, misinformation spread through social media platforms and pushback on health measures, driven largely by Republican politicians and conservative media, have thwarted his efforts to persuade pockets of the U.S. population to get vaccinated.

The administration vowed early on to crack down on private companies spreading vaccine-related misinformation, but it persists.

"I think they underestimated the fact that the anti-vaccine movement was first and foremost a political movement," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. A leading killer of young and middle-aged adults in the United States is "anti-science aggression from the far right," he said. ...