Thread by @BillKristol

I think this is a significant statement by the White House chief of staff.

Short thread follows...

https://twitter.com/WHCOS/status/1416464176751513611

2. If you're White House chief of staff, you don't say a threat to our national well-being is preventable unless...you're ready to do something about it.

Now it's true the Biden Administration did a very good job rolling out the vaccines. All honor to them for that.

3. But that 30% of so of adults remain unvaccinated threatens a "preventable pandemic"--one not only very damaging to them but potentially worrisome with respect to unvaccinated kids, threatening to reopening society, and ultimately, because of variants, a concern to all of us.

4. And there are many things the federal government can do beyond today's friendly exhortations. Lots of incentives (e.g., $100 check upon vaccination or 2021 refundable tax credit if already vaccinated), and disincentives (no TSA clearance to travel if not vaccinated), etc...

5. There's more private and public urging of the private sector to require vaccinations that could be done--private institutions would be more likely to act if at the explicit request of the federal government. DOJ could issue legal guidance friendly to vaccine-requiring...

6. But what institution does the federal government 100% control? An institution whose members aren't exactly unaccustomed to being ordered to do things?

The military.

7. How do you convey a sense of urgency to the society as a whole if 30% or so of service members aren't vaccinated? So: Change or waive the regulation that doesn't permit the military to require vaccination of service members if the vaccine is under Emergency Use Authorization.

8. One could also consider changing normal FDA bureaucratic procedures so we get to full approval of the vaccines. And there's more. Require proof of vaccination to get into federal facilities? Making federal funds (e.g., for hospitals) contingent on vaccination of staff? Etc...

9. There are plenty of people with a more granular understanding of legal authorities and programmatic realities in the Cabinet agencies, OMB, etc. Put them to work. If it's a preventable pandemic, let's do more to prevent it.

10. The Biden Administration thinks climate change is a kind of preventable pandemic. They do lots of urging of people to change behavior. But they also provide a ton of incentives and disincentives. And they propose banning and requiring some activities.

11. Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff, is a serious and responsible government official. I've got to think his tweet, "This is now a preventable pandemic," is laying the predicate for an urgent, much ramped-up effort by the Biden Administration to prevent it.

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