CDC Director Says ‘We’re Not Counting on Vaccine Mandates’ When Pressed on What Businesses Should Do About New Mask Guidelines

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the federal government is “not counting on vaccine mandates” following the agency’s announcement of their major rollback on mask-wearing.

Walensky spoke to NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet The Press, and she defended the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new guidelines allowing the fully vaccinated to take off their masks in public, with only a handful of situational exceptions. During the interview, Todd asked her, “What is a business supposed to do when somebody walks in without a mask? Assume that they’re abiding by the rules?”

Walensky defended the guidance by saying “we are asking people to be honest with themselves” and act accordingly in terms of whether they are vaccinated and safe from the coronavirus.

“What we’re asking businesses to do,” she added, “probably the most important thing that businesses could do right now, is to work to ensure that it’s easy for their own employees to get vaccinated, and to give them the time that they need so that they can make those appointments and get themselves vaccinated so those people in those businesses are safe.”

“So you’re counting on businesses to do vaccine mandates?” Todd asked.

“We’re not counting on vaccine mandates at all,” Walensky responded. “It may very well be that local businesses, local jurisdictions will work towards vaccine mandates. That is going to be locally driven and not federally driven.”

Watch above, via NBC.

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