WASHINGTON (LifeSiteNews) — White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Tuesday she had contracted COVID-19 for the second time despite being “fully vaccinated,” forcing her to opt out of accompanying President Joe Biden on his trip to Europe this week for a special NATO summit.
Psaki made the announcement in a tweet Tuesday afternoon, just a day before she was slated to join the president on his scheduled trip to Europe, where he will sit down with NATO allies to address the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
“Today, in preparation for travel to Europe, I took a PCR test this morning. That test came back positive, which means I will be adhering to CDC guidance and no longer be traveling on the President’s trip to Europe,” Psaki wrote.
Today, in preparation for travel to Europe, I took a PCR test this morning. That test came back positive, which means I will be adhering to CDC guidance and no longer be traveling on the President’s trip to Europe.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 22, 2022
The press secretary noted in the Twitter thread that she participated in two “socially-distanced meetings” with Biden Monday, explaining that according to CDC guidance the president “is not considered a close contact.”
“I am sharing the news of my positive test today out of an abundance of transparency,” Psaki said. Biden has since tested negative for the virus.
“Thanks to the vaccine, I have only experienced mild symptoms,” Psaki continued, adding she will follow “White House COVID-19 protocols” by working from home until she completes a five-day isolation period and gets a negative test.
NPR pointed out that this isn’t the first time Psaki has tested positive for COVID-19. It’s also not the first time she will have missed a major international summit on account of her diagnosis.
In October, the White House press secretary tested positive for COVID just ahead of Biden’s trip to the G-20 summit in Rome.
Meanwhile, Psaki’s positive test comes after a string of similar announcements by high profile Democrats and others.
Last week, former President Barack Obama along with Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, announced they had contracted the coronavirus despite being triple-jabbed.
This week, former first lady Hillary Clinton also said she had contracted COVID.
In their announcements, Clinton, Emhoff, and Obama expressed their gratitude for having gotten their experimental COVID-19 shots, and urged others to get jabbed and boosted.
The encouragements come in spite of the fact that public health experts have widely acknowledged the jabs don’t stop the spread of the virus. Though advocates argue the injections lessen the symptoms of COVID-19, the efficacy of the shots has been shown to steadily nosedive over time.