President Joe Biden To Announce New Measures For Handling COVID-19 Ahead Of UN General Assembly Meeting

United States President Joe Biden. (Wikimedia Commons/David Linenemann)

JAKARTA - United States President Joe Biden will announce new measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 before the United Nations General Assembly meeting, said Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Sunday.

Murthy did not specify what steps would be taken. The next General Assembly session opens Tuesday, while the first day of general debate is scheduled to take place the following week.

Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Murthy defended President Biden's efforts to expand COVID-19 vaccination in the United States.

"There will be more action that we continue to work on, especially on the global front," he said.

Earlier, President Joe Biden last Thursday took aim at vaccine resistance in the United States, announcing a policy requiring most federal employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine and encouraging major employers to have their workers vaccinated or tested weekly.

"We've been patient. But our patience is running low, and your refusal is costing us all," President Joe Biden told the millions of Americans who refuse to get a coronavirus shot.

Taken together, these policies and speeches represent Biden's most aggressive move to encourage Americans to refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine amid a surge in COVID-19 cases from the fast-spreading Delta variant.

President Biden also said the United States had donated 140 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to other countries. "That's American leadership on the global stage, and that's just the beginning," he said.