Biden receives COVID Pfizer booster at White House

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Biden's booster rollout plan creates confusion, mixed messaging

RNC national spokesperson Paris Dennard and Democratic strategist Kevin Walling weigh in on COVID booster shots on 'Fox News @ Night'

President Biden received his booster shot of the Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine Monday at the White House, just days after the Food and Drug Administration and the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the third dose for Americans over 65, those with an underlying health conditions and front-line workers at higher risk of exposure to coronavirus. 

The president, delivering remarks ahead of getting his third dose of the Pfizer vaccine, again made a plea to unvaccinated Americans. 

BIDEN URGES UNVACCINATED TO ‘DO THE RIGHT THING'

"This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated," the president said. 

Biden took questions from reporters as he received his vaccine on camera, telling them that he had "no side effects" after his first and second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Biden said first lady Jill Biden plans to get a booster shot as well. 

When asked how many Americans would need to be vaccinated for the country to get back to "normal," the president said his mandates help. 

"I think we get the vast majority by just going on with some industries and some schools, 97-98%," Biden said, seemingly referring to his executive order, signed earlier this month, requiring all federal workers in the executive branch to be vaccinated, as well as another that mandated all private companies with more than 100 employees to require vaccinations. 

"I think we're getting awful close but I'm not the scientist," Biden added. 

"But one thing is for sure: A quarter of the country cannot go unvaccinated and us not have a problem," Biden said. 

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Individuals eligible for the third dose of the Pfizer vaccine are those who are 65 years old or older, adults 18 or older with underlying health conditions, and those who are at increased risk of COVID-19, like health care workers, teachers, grocery store workers and others on the front line. 

Biden, on Friday, said that if an individual received their second dose of Pfizer in January, February or March, they are now eligible to receive a third. At this point, about 60 million Americans fall under the eligible group for the booster. 

The president, in recent days, has been urging unvaccinated Americans to "do the right thing," and get a shot to protect themselves against COVID-19. 

The president, from the White House, said some Americans' refusals to get vaccinated "has cost all of us."

Biden touted the "incredible progress" of vaccinations, with more than 182 million Americans fully vaccinated with Pfizer, Moderna or one shot of Johnson & Johnson. 

But Biden stressed that this pandemic "is a pandemic of the unvaccinated." 

He went on, "Their refusal has cost all of us. The refusal to get vaccinated has cost all of us," adding that he intended to move forward in mandating vaccinations wherever he can.