Biden Gets Second Vaccine Booster Shot, Launches COVID.gov Site

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden received his second COVID-19 booster shot on Wednesday and announced the launch of a government pandemic information site and tool that aims to allow Americans to handle the virus.

On Tuesday, the US Food and Drug Administration said it authorized a second booster of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for those aged 50 and older.

"Today I am announcing the launch of Covid.gov," Biden said at a press conference. "A one-stop shop where anyone in America can find what they need to navigate the virus."

After the comments the US president sat down, rolled up his sleeve, and then received his second booster shot, which was administered by the White House medical unit.

"It didn't hurt a bit," Biden said.

The president also urged all Americans to get booster shots.

COVID.gov is designed to give Americans easy access to COVID-19 related vaccines, masks, tests, treatments and current updates on the pandemic, the White House said.

More than 977,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. Overall, COVID-19 cases appear to be waning with death and hospitalizations falling, although the effects of the BA.2 variant is a concern to doctors, researchers and others in the medical community.

To date, about 70 percent of Americans 5 years and older are fully vaccinated. And though older Americans lead the way with about 90 percent of them 65 and older fully vaccinated, about 41 percent of the more than 110 million people 50 or older are fully vaccinated but have not received their first booster, the CDC and US Census Bureau data indicates.