Congressman Krishnamoorthi Responds To First U.S. Omicron Case By Urging Americans To Get Vaccinated And Decrying GOP Extremist Efforts Opposing Expanding Vaccinations

WASHINGTON – Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, co-founder and co-chair of the COVID-19 Global Vaccination Caucus, issued the following statement in response to the first reported case of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in the United States:

"As we continue to track outbreaks of this variant across the world and learn more about the new risks it may pose, the importance of Americans getting vaccinated is more evident than ever. It is disgraceful and frankly mind-boggling that extremist members of the Republican party are now threatening to shut down the government unless the Biden Administration abandons vaccine-or-testing requirement policies. These vaccine requirements, administered by businesses and state and local governments, have dramatically improved vaccination rates. President Biden's first vaccination requirement for the federal government helped cut the rate of unvaccinated Americans by one-third. Meanwhile, some Republicans seem committed to dragging this pandemic out for as long as possible by remaining stubbornly opposed to this proven solution – vaccine requirements. In the face of the Omicron variant, the reality of the pandemic remains the same as it has since the beginning of this year: widespread vaccination is the only way to end this pandemic.

To truly end this pandemic, however, it is not enough to achieve widespread vaccination here in the United States – this pandemic only ends when it ends everywhere. That is why I urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to support additional funding for global vaccination efforts to produce, distribute, and deliver the billions of vaccines we need to inoculate the world. As first demonstrated by the Delta variant and now the Omicron variant, so long as the Coronavirus can spread anywhere, the potential for new variants is a danger to everyone everywhere. New threats will continue to arise as long as global and domestic vaccination efforts fail to achieve widespread inoculation. I urge everyone with the chance to get vaccinated to do so immediately, and I call upon my colleagues and the Administration to ensure that everyone across the world gets that chance before it's too late."

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi is one of the leading voices in Congress calling to expand the global access to COVID-19 vaccines. On June 8th, Congressman Krishnamoorthi introduced the NOVID Act, a detailed blueprint to invest $34 billion in global vaccine manufacturing and distribution to reach herd immunity in all 92 COVAX countries, with Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). On August 4th, the above Members and Representative Malinowski penned a letter to President Biden, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer with 116 Members of Congress requesting the NOVID Act provisions be included in any reconciliation package. On August 10th, 175 public health experts separately wrote to the President demanding that he act immediately to invest in global vaccination.

As founder and co-chair of the COVID-19 Global Vaccination Caucus, Congressman Krishnamoorthi championed the inclusion of $1.3 billion in the Build Back Better Act to support vaccine production capacity and capabilities, including through the construction of new manufacturing facilities or the expansion or modernization of existing facilities. This funding can also be used to address supply chain issues pertaining to the manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines.