Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky backtracked Friday after she said the Biden administration was entertaining a federal coronavirus vaccine mandate.
Walensky was not referring to a federal vaccine requirement when she said the administration was “looking into” whether to mandate it at the federal level, she said Friday evening.
“To clarify: There will be no nationwide mandate,” Walensky wrote on Twitter. “I was referring to mandates by private institutions and portions of the federal government. There will be no federal mandate.”
.@BerkeleyJr To clarify: There will be no nationwide mandate. I was referring to mandates by private institutions and portions of the federal government. There will be no federal mandate.
— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) July 30, 2021
Walensky said hours earlier that the Biden administration was thinking about a national vaccine mandate.
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“That’s something that I think the administration is looking into,” Walensky told Fox News earlier Friday when asked whether she supports a federal mandate. “It’s something that I think we are looking to see approval of from the vaccine.”
“Overall, I think in general, I am all for more vaccination, but I have nothing further to say on that except that we are looking into those policies,” she added.
The CDC released one of the studies undergirding its approach on masks Friday, which found that among 469 sampled COVID-19 cases, most were from the delta variant and nearly 75% occurred in fully vaccinated subjects. The study’s authors noted that its data only reflected those who got tested, which could skew the findings.
Critics of the masking rules decried the agency, saying the scientific evidence for requiring vaccinated people to wear masks is wanting.
Walensky’s original comments were at odds with what another administration official said earlier Friday about a federal mandate.
“A national vaccine requirement is not under consideration at this time,” said White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “I don’t have any more to add.”
President Joe Biden himself also suggested his administration was considering a national requirement, saying Thursday that it is “still a question” whether it has the legal authority to mandate coronavirus vaccines.
.@BerkeleyJr To clarify: There will be no nationwide mandate. I was referring to mandates by private institutions and portions of the federal government. There will be no federal mandate.
— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) July 30, 2021
The divergent messages followed what marked a major shift in the administration’s public health approach earlier in the week.
The CDC announced guidance on Tuesday recommending that people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 in areas with high coronavirus transmission should wear masks indoors. The agency in May had updated guidance to say that vaccinated people generally do not need to wear face masks.
The administration announced Thursday that it would require proof of vaccination for the entire federal workforce.
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Walensky and other officials cited increasing coronavirus infections around the country for the changes, which they have blamed on the virus’s delta variant.
