Trump Surgeon General to Newsmax: Biden's Ban on Africa 'Xenophobic'

President Joe Biden's ban on travel from eight southern Africa countries after the discovery of the omicron coronavirus variant is "xenophobic," and does not take into account that the mutation is also turning up in countries that have primarily white people, former Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on Newsmax Wednesday.

"It's really frustrating to me that we have a xenophobic travel ban against only south African countries when we know that over a dozen mostly European countries, mostly white countries, have shown the virus," Adams, who served under former President Donald Trump, said on Newsmax's "National Report."

Last Friday, Biden issued a travel ban from eight southern Africa countries: South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland), Mozambique, and Malawi due to concerns about the ''heavily mutated'' omicron variant. The ban became effective on Monday, but by Tuesday, he said the block would be evaluated week-by-week.

The president's decision is under fire because, during the 2020 election campaign, Biden slammed Trump's travel ban from China in the early days of the pandemic as being xenophobic.

"I'm calling on the Biden administration to fix this right away," Adams said Wednesday.

Biden can "either increase the ban on all countries or roll it back and actually put in place smart testing that allows us to test people when they leave and when they enter the country so that we can more appropriately figure out who's coming in and stop them before the virus spreads even more," he added.

Further, the omicron variant is "probably already here," said Adams.

"One of the unfortunate things that I've been pointing out is that the John Hopkins website tells us the United States is in the bottom half of the world in terms of sequencing that variance," said Adams. "The fact is that South Africa did the world a favor by telling us that this existed, but we're finding out now if we backtrack, that it was already in Europe and in Canada."

That means, as Biden said, Americans should "prepare, not panic," said Adams.

"We are in the midst of a delta surge and that is still the bigger threat to us," he said. "The way you protect yourself is by getting vaccinated, getting boosted, and by our government increasing testing so that we can detect the disease."

Adams said he is encouraged by the FDA's approval of a new oral antiviral pill, but with the United States being overrun by delta infections, and with the new threat coming, "this pill is meaningless if we can't get testing."

And that means the push must continue on state and federal officials to make the tests available must continue, said Adams.

"Everyone in the United States should have had a free home test delivered to them by the federal government," said Adams. "That's a missed opportunity. These pills mean nothing if we can't identify that you have the virus within the five-day window of the infection starting."

Other countries are doing a much better job on fighting the virus, he added, including giving everyone access to free home testing and through advance being reached on genetic sequencing.

Adams also said he agrees with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief White House medical adviser, on the need for all eligible people to get their coronavirus vaccines and booster shots.

"You should get the booster ASAP because again, it will help you against delta, and as Dr. Fauci said, it will likely help you against omicron," said Adams.

People also shouldn't wait for the booster to be adapted to the omicron variant because that will take some time.

"They can very quickly create a booster for omicron but very quickly still means three months out, and then you're gonna have to wait to get it administered after it's approved by the FDA," said Adams. "Our best bet right now is to get boosted to protect us now against delta and in the future against omicron."

He encouraged Americans to speak with their doctors, pharmacists, or nurse practitioners about advice on the boosters rather than trusting the federal government first.

"I want people to get the facts and then get the vax," said Adams.

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