White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki touted the administration's renewed push for many fully vaccinated – and therefore supposedly protected – people to re-don face masks as an “extra step” to keep from transmitting the coronavirus from which, again, they are supposedly protected.
As of Tuesday, the administration is now advising fully vaccinated people in areas with low vaccination rates to keep wearing face masks, particularly indoors, after new data emerged showing that not only can vaccinated people contract COVID, but they can spread it to others. The updated advice comes even as the White House continues to press for people to get the vaccine as a measure of protection against the virus - which, apparently, they can still both get and transmit despite being vaccinated.
Follow all that?
Responding to a question from Fox News’ Peter Doocy asking why the administration is now telling full vaccinated people to wear masks while also touting the efficacy of the vaccine in keeping people from getting and transmitting COVID, Psaki couldn’t provide a clear, science-based answer other than to say it’s an “extra step” to slowing the spread of the virus.
“If vaccines work, which this sign says that they do, then why do people who’ve had the vaccine now need to wear masks?” Doocy asked, gesturing to a notice posted at the front of the briefing room.
"Because the public health leaders in our administration have made the determination, based on data, that is a way to make sure they are protected, their loved ones are protected, and that that is an extra step given the transmissibility of the virus,” a mask-less Psaki said, declining to give a reason as to how a vaccine can both be effective enough to warrant getting while at the same time ineffective at stopping people from catching and spreading COVID.
DOOCY: "If vaccines work -- then why do people who have the vaccine now need to wear masks?"@PressSec: "Because the public health leaders in our administration have made the determination -- that is a way to make sure they are protected, their loved ones are protected..." pic.twitter.com/Io6uQoivWH
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 27, 2021
The Biden administration, along with “health experts” including Dr. Anthony Fauci, have continued to flip-flop on mask guidance in recent weeks as the number of so-called “breakthrough” cases of fully vaccinated people contracting COVID continues to climb – albeit largely among those whose symptoms and hospitalization rates remain far lower than unvaccinated persons who contract the disease. Despite being asked by multiple reporters, the administration has so far refused to say how many White House officials and employees have caught the virus despite being fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the CDC, which the Biden administration claims is continuing to set the official national guidance on COVID transmission and mask-wearing, continues to state on its website: “If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did before the pandemic without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by laws, rules, regulations, or local guidance.”