Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra clarified President Biden's recent comments that the pandemic is "over" and stressed that COVID is still present despite the public wanting to return to normalcy.

Video Transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

- President Biden making waves on a number of subjects during his interview with "60 Minutes" including COVID, saying, quote, "the pandemic is over." Anjalee Khemlani has the latest for us on that. Anj, it was a surprise to many.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Yes, it was. A surprise to many, including apparently some senior officials within the White House themselves. So we take a look at these comments in context of the fact that the US has reduced the emergency phase of the pandemic. That's really what experts are gleaning from his comments, that maybe he meant to say more, the pandemic itself may not be over, but we're in a new phase of it. I caught up with Health Secretary Xavier Becerra earlier today to get some clarification on whether or not he agreed with President Biden, and here's what he had to say.

XAVIER BECERRA: Make no mistake. People are still dying. And what the president is saying is that we all want to get back to where we were before COVID. And we've done so much to get us back to a place where we can live our lives. But we have to continue to do the things that protect us. And I believe the president made it very clear, COVID's still here. We just have to make sure we're smart.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: COVID is still here. That is what Secretary Becerra did say. And he basically had to defend the comments, but also said that we are in a new phase, and we need to learn how to basically live with this virus, as it is not going away. But any clarification on how the US is planning to continue to battle it at a time when we continue to see hundreds of deaths per week, as well as a slow booster rollout, is really something that remains to be seen.