Michelle Obama says she's banning anyone not vaccinated from coming close to her family
Former First Lady Michelle Obama said she is not letting anyone who is not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus to get near her family.
Ms Obama's strict policy was revealed during an interview she gave to "CBS This Morning."
Gayle King, the host of the show, said the US was moving toward a "light at the end of the tunnel" and discussed the slow march toward the end of the pandemic.
Ms Obama shared her displeasure with the time it has taken for Americans to embrace pandemic mitigation efforts.
“Well, it'd be better light if people would get vaccinated," Ms Obama said.
She brushed aside vaccine skeptics, arguing that the science behind the coronavirus vaccines was the same "behind aspirin and insulin."
The former First Lady also revealed that she had established a new rule for anyone wanting to interact with her family.
"Be vaccinated."
"You wanna hang out with us? Get your vaccine. Get all of it. Finish it up. And then we can talk," Ms Obama said, laughing. "So I urge everybody out there, within the sound of our voices, please, please get the vaccine. It's time."
It appears the vaccine drive has been working.
The US is averaging about 40,000 new coronavirus cases per day, which is down 43 per cent from its last peak less than a month ago.
Should average cases and deaths continue to decline, Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said mandates on mask usage may change as well.
Dr Fauci said that mask usage could become a seasonal requirement and that he was considering lifting the indoor mask mandate as more Americans receive vaccines.
About half of the adult US population has received at least one coronavirus vaccine shot, and one-third are fully vaccinated.
While those numbers are promising, the rate at which people are getting vaccinated is slowing down.
The Biden Administration's coronavirus task force said FEMA will be shifting its focus in coming weeks away from centralised vaccine sites to smaller mobile clinics that can penetrate deeper into cities and out into rural areas where access to the vaccine may not be as abundant.
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