Norah O’Donnell Questions Biden Over School Reopenings in Pre-Super Bowl Interview: ‘There’s a Mental Health Crisis Happening’

CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell questioned Joe Biden about the need to ramp up vaccine production and calls to reopen schools in the president’s pre-Super Bowl interview Sunday.

With more and more public health officials saying children should be back in schools soon, the Biden administration has faced growing questions about this issue. Just last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that schools can safely reopen without needing to vaccinate teachers first. White House press secretary Jen Psaki then tried to say Walensky was speaking in her “personal capacity.”

O’Donnell said to Biden, “About 20 million American children have not been in the classroom for nearly a year. There’s a mental health crisis happening.”

“There really is,” Biden said.

“Women are dropping out of the workforce. Is this a national emergency?” O’Donnell asked.

Biden said it is. When O’Donnell asked if it’s “time for schools to reopen,” Biden said, “I think it’s time for schools to reopen safely… You have to have fewer people in the classroom. You have to have ventilation systems that have been reworked.”

O’Donnell also asked about issues with the vaccine rollout and how long it’s going to take to achieve herd immunity.

Biden responded by saying, “One of the disappointments was when we came into office is the circumstance relating to how the administration was handling covid was even more dire than we thought.”

He noted the letter he received from Roger Goodell saying NFL stadiums will be made available for mass vaccination sites and said, “I believe we’ll use them.”

You can watch above, via CBS.

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