President Biden left the White House before noon Friday for a long weekend at his beach house and kept out of sight as the FDA rejected his push for COVID-19 vaccine “booster” shots, the Pentagon admitted it killed Afghan civilians and France recalled its ambassador.
Biden didn’t speak with reporters about the trio of political debacles during the less than two-hour trip to his Rehoboth Beach, Del., mansion — or after he arrived.
In a forever stain on Biden’s chaotic Afghanistan pullout, the Pentagon admitted it mistakenly killed 10 innocent civilians including a US aid contractor and seven children on Aug. 29, one day before the final evacuation flights from Kabul — and not Islamic State terrorists, as originally claimed.
At about the same time, an influential Food and Drug Administration panel voted 16-2 to reject a request for approval of “booster” shots of Pfizer’s two-dose COVID-19 vaccine, upending months of Biden administration planning.
The FDA panel did approve a third shot for senior citizens, after last month giving the green-light for people with compromised immune systems. But the mixed verdict complicates administration messaging after Biden mandated that federal workers and employees of businesses with 100 people submit to vaccination or lose their jobs.
The Biden administration set aside enough “booster” shots for most Americans despite pleas from the Third World and some health groups to prioritize other countries out of concern that new virus mutations could emerge.
More than 76 percent of US adults have had at least one vaccine shot, according to CDC data, but new US infections and deaths soared due to the more contagious Delta variant of the virus. Currently, the new infection rate is about the same as in late January when few people were vaccinated — though daily deaths are lower.
Adding to the Biden’s administration’s dismal Friday, France pulled its ambassador in protest of Biden’s ham-handed rollout of a new security pact with the UK and Australia called AUKUS, which will help Australia build nuclear submarines to counter China.
France, America’s oldest ally and a nuclear energy pioneer, has large Pacific and Indian ocean territories and as a result of the AUKUS pact lost a contract to build conventional submarines for Australia.
Ironically, the new AUKUS pact was aimed at shoring up US relations with Australia — another longtime ally — after Biden snubbed Prime Minister Scott Morrison during the recent Afghanistan troop pullout. Australia learned of the US withdrawal date from news reports and Biden didn’t call Morrison during the frantic evacuation of Kabul last month.
Biden has made 21 trips to his homes in Delaware since taking office on Jan. 20. Most of those trips were to Wilmington; this is just his second trip to Rehoboth.
The blows to Biden’s agenda come as his approval ratings tank.
A Reuter/Ipsos poll released Thursday found 50 percent disapproval and 46 percent approval, signaling the end to an early-term “honeymoon” period. A Rasmussen poll gauged disapproval even higher, at 55 percent, with just 43 percent approving of Biden’s performance.
