WH COVID adviser blasted for promotion of annual booster with flu shot: 'This is why God gave us two arms'
White House officials suggested Americans may need yearly COVID-19 booster shots
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Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s COVID-19 coordinator, raised eyebrows on Tuesday for describing his recommendations for annual COVID boosters along with flu shots as "why God gave us two arms."
Biden administration health officials took part in a press briefing on the ongoing coronavirus response where Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested that annual COVID-19 boosters may be needed, comparing them to flu shots.
"It is becoming increasingly clear that looking forward with the COVID-19 pandemic, in the absence of a dramatically different variant, we likely are moving towards a path with a vaccination cadence similar to that of the annual influenza vaccine, with annual updated COVID-19 shots matched to the currently circulating strains for most of the population," Fauci said.
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White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 26, 2022. ((AP Photo/Susan Walsh))
Jha agreed with the recommendation and further said the combination of the coronavirus vaccine and the flu shot are the reason human beings have two arms.
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"I really believe this is why God gave us two arms, one for the flu shot and the other one for the COVID shot," Jha said.
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Social media users mocked Jha’s comments as "insane" for framing boosters shots in a religious light.
"What," National Review journalist Claude Thompson replied.
Townhall.com columnist Philip Holloway tweeted, "Jha thinks God gave us arms for the purpose of getting shots. The lack of self-awareness by TheExperts™ is off the charts crazy. Of course if Covid is your religion, this makes sense."
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American Conservation Coalition VP Stephen Perkins joked, "Is that passage in the KJV or the NIV Bible?"
"False. God did not intend for us to be Big Pharma guinea pigs. Also, way to hijack the beautiful quote, ‘God gave us two ears and one month so we can listen twice as much as we speak,’" journalist Allison Royal wrote.
FILE - A syringe is prepared with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic at the Keystone First Wellness Center in Chester, Pa., on Dec. 15, 2021. ((AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File) )
"These people are batsh*t insane," radio host Clay Travis tweeted.
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Former journalist Beth Baumann wrote, "I'm telling Jesus straight up... ‘hard pass.’"
In July, Jha admitted that he believes the coronavirus will be with us "forever" despite President Biden’s campaign promise to "shut down" the virus.
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Jha was also one of many media and Democrat figures who went back on his original declaration that schools were not safe enough to open during the pandemic.
This August 2022 photo provided by Pfizer shows vials of the company's updated COVID-19 vaccine during production in Kalamazoo, Mich. (Pfizer via AP)
In August 2020, he suggested that schools were not prepared enough to open for the new year, but by December, he claimed that school lockdowns "shouldn't even be on the table" despite rising cases from the omicron variant.
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Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.