President Biden will skip the “eating portion” of the White House Correspondent’s Dinner to minimize his exposure to COVID-19.
According to the White House, the President made the decision after consulting his physician.
“He’s made the decision he wants to attend, in a safe way, the White House correspondents’ dinner to showcase his support for the free press, for the work of all of you, for the work of your colleagues around the world to not only share accurate information about COVID but also report on the war in Ukraine and all of the work that happens every single day,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
“That does stand in stark contrast to his predecessor, who not only questioned the legitimacy of the press on a nearly daily basis, but also never attended the dinner, I don’t believe,” Psaki added. “So, he felt that was important and made a risk assessment to do that in consultation with his doctors and health care team.”
The annual dinner was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the global pandemic.
Senior health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci also confirmed this week he will not attend the event because of the virus.
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