The White House does not believe that it is its place to lay blame at the feet of unvaccinated people for putting others at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
Press secretary Jen Psaki was asked what President Joe Biden’s attitude is toward hardening vaccine hesitancy after Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey suggested Friday it was time to start blaming unvaccinated people for the spread of the delta variant and the rise in COVID-19 cases.
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“I don’t think our role is to place blame,” Psaki told reporters Friday. “But what we can do is provide accurate information to people who are not yet vaccinated about the risks they are incurring, not only on themselves but also the people around them.”
Psaki specifically referenced young people who think they are “immune” to the virus. Their demographic is partly responsible for the administration’s plateaued vaccination rate.
“You can get very sick, you can die from the virus. You can also make your grandparents sick and your parents sick,” she said. “We’re not here to place blame or threats. We’re here to provide accurate information.”
But Psaki did not answer a question regarding whether it was time for the federal government to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations.
Psaki’s comments contrast with Biden’s claim last week that Facebook was responsible for “killing people” by permitting users to share misinformation about vaccinations. Biden did walk back his remarks after Facebook alleged the White House was “looking for scapegoats” after missing its target of administering at least one shot to 70% of adults.
“Facebook isn’t killing people,” he told reporters. “These 12 people are out there giving misinformation, anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it. It’s killing people. It’s bad information. My hope is that Facebook, instead of taking it personally … that they would do something.”
Alabama is the country’s least vaccinated state, with less than 34% of its residents being fully vaccinated. Ivey, however, ended Alabama’s mask mandate in April.
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“Folks are supposed to have common sense. But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down,” Ivey told reporters.
