Fauci Says He’s Against Airline Vax Mandates After Being Pressed by CNN’s Acosta: ‘No, Let’s Clarify That, Jim’
Dr. Anthony Fauci said he is currently against vaccine mandates for airline passengers during an interview with CNN’s Jim Acosta on Monday.
Fauci a day earlier had indicated that he might not agree with President Joe Biden on airline vaccine requirements during an interview with Jonathan Karl on ABC News’ This Week. Biden has been clear he is not in favor of such a mandate, but Fauci created confusion when he said he felt one might be necessary to look into.
“A vaccine requirement for a person getting on the plane is just another level of getting people to have a mechanism that would spur them to get vaccinated,” Fauci told Karl. “Namely, you can’t get on a plane unless you’re vaccinated, which is just another one of the ways of getting requirements, whatever that might be.”
On Monday, Fauci appeared on The Situation Room where he was asked to clarify his position on the issue.
“You’ve been saying that vaccine mandates for domestic flights should be seriously considered,” said Acosta. “Is that something that President Biden is seriously considering?”
“No, what I said, Jim, was that everything that comes up as a possibility, we put it on the table and we consider it. That does not mean that it is going to be likely to happen,” Fauci said. “Right now, I don’t think people should expect that we’re going to have a requirement in domestic flights for people to be vaccinated. When I was asked that question, I gave an honest answer. It’s on the table, and we consider it, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.”
The chief White House medical advisor added that he doubts such a mandate will be enacted, barring something unforeseen.
“If things get worse, is that something that has to be kept on the table as an option?” asked Acosta, who added, “We didn’t expect Omicron to clobber us like this.”
Fauci replied, “You always keep things open for consideration and you monitor things on a daily and weekly basis and if sometimes you have to make changes to be commensurate with the situation, you do.”
Acosta later asked if there is conflict behind the scenes over the issue, to which Fauci said, “When you say conflict, I’m not sure what you mean.”
Acosta then asked Fauci if he is the lone White House official who is in favor of a vaccine mandate for air travel.
“No, let’s clarify that, Jim. I said that is something that’s open for consideration. It’s not a question of being in favor of it or not,” Fauci explained. “I’m in favor of what we can do to keep the country safe. If the situation arise where that’s something we think should be important to do, we’ll do it. Right now, that’s not going to be done. But we never take anything off the table. We always keep things open for consideration.”
Watch above, via CNN.
