After receiving his COVID booster dose on Sept. 27, President Biden told reporters 97 to 98% of the population will need to be vaccinate before the country can return to “normal.”
“What is the percentage of total vaccinations that have to be deployed?” asked one reporter at the White House.
“I think we get the vast majority like what’s going on in some industries and some schools — 97, 98% … I think we’re getting awful close, but I’m not the scientist,” said the President. “A quarter of the country can’t go unvaccinated.”
CNN’s Leana Wen made similar comments over the weekend, claiming vaccinated people pose a major health threat to unvaccinated children.
“Those who are vaccinated, we now know based on the CDC, they are now able with the Delta Variant, because they carry so much virus, they may transmit it to their unvaccinated family members,” said Wen.
“I, for example, even though I’m fully vaccinated, my children are not because they’re too young. So now I have to be careful for my children because of all the unvaccinated people around us,” she added.
Dr Leana Wen from the CDC says that the vaccinated are carrying very high viral loads and are transmitting the virus to the unvaccinated https://t.co/dxgtJiEpEz
— Patrick Phillips MD (@DrP_MD) September 25, 2021
“Masks are a very powerful layer of protection. It’s one layer … Let’s say a school or class where everyone is vaccinated in that class, I could imagine that situation where we would remove masks. Or if we have rapid testing. Imagine if every child and teacher were tested every morning, and also they’re vaccinated … Maybe you can remove masks at that time. We’re nowhere near that yet,” Dr. Wen told CNN.