CINCINNATI (AP) - President Joe Biden expressed pointed frustration over the slowing COVID-19 vaccination rate in the U.S. and pleaded that it’s “gigantically important” for Americans to step up and get inoculated against the virus as it surges once again.
Biden, speaking Wednesday night at a televised town hall in Cincinnati, said the public health crisis has turned largely into a plight of the unvaccinated as the spread of the delta variant has led to a surge in infections around the country.
“We have a pandemic for those who haven’t gotten the vaccination - it’s that basic, that simple,” he said on the CNN town hall.
The president also expressed optimism that children under 12 will be approved for vaccination in the coming months. But he displayed exasperation that so many eligible Americans are still reluctant to get a shot.
“If you’re vaccinated, you’re not going to be hospitalized, you’re not going to be in the IC unit, and you’re not going to die,” Biden said at the forum at Mount St. Joseph University. “So it’s gigantically important that ... we all act like Americans who care about our fellow Americans.”
President Joe Biden interacts with members of the audience during a commercial break for a CNN town hall at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden talks to reporters before he boards Air Force One at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky., Wednesday, July 21, 2021, to travel back to Washington after speaking at a CNN town hall in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Cameras are visible in the foreground as President Joe Biden accompanied by CNN journalist Don Lemon, right, appears at a CNN town hall at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden speaks while meeting with an instructor and an apprentice in a classroom at the IBEW / NECA Electrical Training Center in Cincinnati, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden talks to reporters before he boards Air Force One at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky., Wednesday, July 21, 2021, to travel back to Washington after speaking at a CNN town hall in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden speaks while meeting with an instructor and apprentice at the IBEW / NECA Electrical Training Center in Cincinnati, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden greets electrician instructor Jerry Mahoney, second from right, and apprentice Stephen Randolph, right, as he arrives to speak with them at the IBEW / NECA Electrical Training Center in Cincinnati, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden is greeted by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, just behind Biden, his wife Britainy Beshear, second from right, and their children Lila Beshear, 11, left, and Will Beshear, 12, right, as he arrives at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky., Wednesday, July 21, 2021, to travel to Cincinnati for a town hall and to tour an electrical training center. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden, accompanied by CNN journalist Don Lemon, right, speaks at CNN town hall at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)