White House plans to knock back what it considers vaccine misinformation agenda, report

White House officials are purportedly devising strategies to address what they consider misinformation and falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines that they say are being spread by Republicans and others and slowing their vaccination goals.

The plan is being reported by CNN based on interviews with five unnamed people in the Biden administration, who also said President Biden could get involved in the campaign. 

The sources also said U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy this week will attend one of the daily White House press briefings to argue misinformation is now an urgent public health issue.

However, the sources expressed concerns about going too hard on the attack against Republicans and their conservative media outlets, saying local physicians, pharmacists or clergy members will likely be the better messengers.

The number of COVID cases in the U.S., largely across the South, have increased in recent weeks, in large part because of the emergence of the more-contagious delta strain, while vaccinations numbers have essentially plateaued.

Roughly 48% of the country is fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.