WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Jen Psaki criticized policies in states such as Texas and Florida that have moved to block employers and proprietors from implementing mask or vaccine requirements to curb the coronavirus.
Watch the news briefing in the video player above.
Those two states are among several facing surging cases from the delta variant. “I think the fundamental question we have is, ‘what are we doing here?’” Psaki asked.
Biden planned to speak Tuesday about U.S. strategy to slow the spread of the coronavirus at home and abroad, noting that “we’re all in this together.”
Earlier, the White House announced the U.S. had shipped more than 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 60 countries.
Biden has promised the U.S. will be the “arsenal of vaccines” for the world, and it has shipped the most vaccines abroad of any donor nation. While notable, the 110 million doses donated largely through a vaccine program known as COVAX represent a fraction of what is needed globally.
The White House says the U.S. will begin shipping half a billion doses of Pfizer vaccine it has pledged to about 100 low-income countries at the end of August.