White House Attempts To Walk Back Biden Saying ‘The Pandemic Is Over’

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre attempted to walk back President Biden’s stating that the COVID-19 “pandemic is over” during an interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” over the weekend.

“Is the pandemic over?” host Scott Pelley asked Biden in the interview.

“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it,” Biden answered.

A reporter asked Jean-Pierre about Biden’s comments and whether COVID-19 policies are “contradictory” if the pandemic is over.

“The top Senate Republican on the Health Committee sent a letter to the White House related the President’s comments about the pandemic being over on the ‘60 Minutes,’ saying there are contradictory policies in place, if that’s the case, on offset emergency funding, enforcement of vaccine mandates, continued federal emergency declarations,” the reporter said.

“Does the White House have a response to that, in terms of where policies currently stand?” the reporter asked.

“So, the President said and he was very clear in his ‘60 Minutes’ interview that, you know, COVID remains a problem and we’re fighting it,” Jean-Pierre claimed. “And we have to continue to make sure that we are fighting this once-in-a-generation pandemic.”

“And so, here’s the thing: What he believes is we can acknowledge that — the massive amount of progress that we have made,” Jean-Pierre added. “Just think about where we were when this President walked into this administration — where, again, a response to this once-in-a-generation pandemic was mismanaged by the last administration.”

It should be noted that when former President Trump left office, 420,441 Americans had died from COVID-19, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Since Biden took office, at least 627,839 more Americans have died from COVID-19.

KJP: "The president said, and he was very clear in his 60 Minutes interview, that COVID remains a problem and we're fighting it."

Biden in his 60 Minutes interview: "The pandemic is over." pic.twitter.com/3kZKBCuSGy

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 20, 2022