Biden’s First Press Conference as President Has 0 Questions on Coronavirus Pandemic

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There was one topic absent from the questions at President Joe Biden’s first press conference on Thursday: the coronavirus pandemic that has derailed the economy and killed 545,000 Americans and counting.

A series of worthy topics were broached over the course of the hour-plus press conference, in which Biden called on 10 reporters from top news outlets (with the exception of Fox News, which was snubbed.)

Biden was asked about the crisis at the Southern Border, the timeline of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, whether he supports reforming the filibuster, whether he supports abolishing the filibuster, and efforts by Republican lawmakers to restrict voting access. He was twice asked if he plans to run for president in 2024.

But not one reporter in the socially-distanced East Room asked about the coronavirus pandemic, which rages on in a race against efforts to vaccinate the American population.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman called the omission “hard to fathom.”

There’s a reason to express concern about a president not doing press conferences, but no question on covid or specifics on gun control is hard to fathom. https://t.co/ipPJgNsPqA

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 25, 2021

Biden himself kicked off the briefing with an announcement about the nation’s fight against Covid. The administration has a new goal to administer 200 million vaccination shots within his first 100 days in office, an increase of the 100 million doses initially pledged.

If you tuned in after the first two minutes of the press conference, or for the entirety of the Q&A, you would not have heard a single question about the crisis that is likely to be the defining one of the Biden presidency.