The White House is spinning the updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mask guidance as a response to stagnant COVID-19 immunization rates, days after insisting it would not take part in a blame game.
The CDC has to adapt to the novel coronavirus, including its more contagious delta variant, according to White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.
WHITE HOUSE MIXED MASK MESSAGING COULD HAMPER ADHERENCE TO CDC GUIDANCE
“Unfortunately, because not enough Americans have stepped up to get vaccinated, they had to provide new guidance to help save lives, especially for those immunocompromised and children,” Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday aboard Air Force One en route to Pennsylvania.
The CDC reversed its May guidance this week, recommending inoculated people in pockets of the country with high or substantial transmission of the respiratory illness wear masks in public, indoor spaces again.
Jean-Pierre emphasized that the CDC issued a “nonpartisan” recommendation, not a mandate. She also shrugged off concerns the CDC’s advice is aimed at people most likely to ignore it. The CDC is “a highly respected” federal agency, she contended.
“This needed to happen right. They are following the science,” she said. “The science is a North Star. We have to listen to public health experts.”
Wednesday’s White House message contradicts the one top spokeswoman Jen Psaki pushed from the podium last week. Psaki had been asked about Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey’s comments that it was time to start blaming unvaccinated people for the spread of the delta variant and 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.”
