Jake Tapper: ‘Inexplicable’ That Psaki Would Appear to Undermine CDC Director on Reopening Schools, ‘What’s Going On?’
CNN’s Jake Tapper called out White House press secretary Jen Psaki during a segment Friday on calls for the Biden administration and covid task force to provide clarity on what exactly the plan for reopening schools nationwide is.
To briefly recap: CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said this week that “vaccinations of teachers is not a prerequisite for safely reopening schools,” only for Psaki to later say that she was just speaking in her “personal capacity.”
Tapper started Friday by saying, “When it comes to the debate between health officials and government officials who argue that schools need to be open as soon as possible for in-person classes, with mitigation efforts in place, of course, there seems to be no daylight between the Biden White House and teachers’ unions.”
After showing the clips of Walensky and Psaki, Tapper said clearly schools need to be made safe, proper mitigation must be in place, and vulnerable people should stay at home. But he added, “This is the White House claiming that the CDC director was speaking in her personal capacity, undermining her own top health official seemingly, for seemingly saying vaccinations are not necessary to reopen schools safely? Which is what the health community has been saying for months and months now. It’s inexplicable. What’s going on?”
Dr. Sanjay Gupta said “science has to lead the way” but added “it’s a little bit of a murky issue.”
He noted there is data showing schools can be safely reopened without teachers needing to be vaccinated first, but also noted the fears teachers have about the lack of resources necessary to go back into classrooms.
“That’s why the vaccines end up being this important backstop for them.”
“The CDC guidelines, which we’re expecting next week, should be an important part of that in terms of what the schools need to do. Then the districts can satisfy the requirements,” Tapper said. “But if teachers are saying ‘I don’t care what the scientists say, I need to feel safe and I’m only going to feel safe if every teacher is vaccinated and every student is vaccinated,’ why would we defer to somebody’s feelings over the science?”
Gupta responded, “I don’t have a good answer to that. I’m a scientist. Science should lead the way. But Jake, throughout this pandemic, I don’t think we can dismiss people’s feelings of concern here.”
“If you have a staff member who says ‘I teach in a poorly ventilated classroom. It’s cold outside. I cannot open the windows. I have pre-existing conditions,’ how do you start to parse this all out for people?” he added, saying there are plenty of questions the CDC needs to provide important clarity on.
You can watch above, via CNN.
