ABC’s Jon Karl Questions Surgeon General on Pence Speech at Large Indoor Event: ‘Doesn’t This Hurt Your Effort to Model Good Behavior?’

ABC News’ Jon Karl spoke with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams Sunday on This Week and questioned him on the vaccine rollout and whether the vice president is modeling good behavior in the face of calls for continued mitigation.

Adams told Karl that he’s “very concerned” about a potential post-Christmas covid surge, but also emphasized, “Even if you travelled, it doesn’t mean you just throw your hands up in the air and say, ‘Oh well.’ There are measures that you can take.”

He added that it’s important for people to continue following four basic guideliens: “Wear a mask, wash your hands, watch your distance… wait on gatherings.”

At one point Karl brought up Vice President Mike Pence’s recent speech at a Turning Point USA event in Florida — an indoor event with lots of people there.

“Doesn’t this hurt your effort to model good behavior and to urge people to act responsibly? I mean, why is the vice president doing something like this?” Karl asked.

Adams didn’t respond to Pence directly, instead reiterating, “What I consistently say is we need to understand how this virus spreads. It spreads person to person when we’re close together and especially if we’re not wearing masks. So we need to do everything we can to protect ourselves from this virus. Because we’ve got vaccines. Hope is here. It’s not on the way, it’s here. And we’re quickly getting people vaccinated.”

You can watch above, via ABC.