Jake Tapper Presses WH Official: Is Biden Sending Wrong Message With ‘Overly Cautious’ Mask-Wearing?

CNN’s Jake Tapper spoke Sunday with Jeff Zients, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, and asked him about whether President Joe Biden is being “overly cautious” with his mask-wearing.

Tapper, who posed a similar question to Biden senior adviser Anita Dunn last week, asked Zients, “Is it really necessary for a fully vaccinated person to wear a mask at a limited indoor gathering if everyone there is vaccinated?”

Zients pointed to the recently-released CDC guidelines about settings in which vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks.

“So why does President Biden, in a room full of fully vaccinated journalists, with everybody in that room vaccinated, why does he need to wear a mask?” Tapper asked.

Zients said Biden will continue to follow the CDC guidance and talked up the president’s goal to get 70 percent of all adults vaccinated with at least one dose by July 4th.

At one point Tapper asked him directly if the president’s mask-wearing sends the wrong message:

“I think one of the reasons why journalists are annoyingly harping on this, and some health experts are, is because there is a light at end of the tunnel, and President Biden being able to take off his mask in a room full of journalists and white house staffers — all of whom are fully vaccinated — is a demonstration that the vaccines work. You and I are both vaccinated, and you and I are in a room together talking, and I have no fear that I’m going to get the virus from you, and I assume vice versa. I think the concern is that by being overly cautious the signal is going out to the public that there isn’t necessarily light at end of the tunnel.”

Zients said “the end of the tunnel is brighter and brighter” and that as more people get vaccinated, the CDC will continue to relax guidelines.

You can watch above, via CNN.