The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English), Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said Friday that a national vaccination mandate against the virus that causes COVID-19 will not be imposed, thus clearing the doubts raised.
"To clarify: there will be no mandate at the national level. I was referring to the mandates of private institutions and parts of the federal government," Walensky explained in a Twitter message about previous statements he had made and that, in his opinion, they had been misinterpreted.
"There will be no federal mandate," he specified.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during a hearing on the response to COVID-19 in Washington DC on March 18, 2021. Anna Moneymaker -Pool / Getty Images
On the same Friday, asked on Fox News Channel if she supported establishing mandatory immunization for all citizens, the CDC director replied: "It is something that I think the Administration is studying."
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The government of President Joe Biden is seeking mechanisms to increase vaccination levels in the United States, which have stalled for weeks as COVID-19 infections increase due to the high transmissibility of the delta variant.
But for now he has not suggested opting for that option.
As part of this effort, Biden on Thursday urged local governments to incentivize citizens with $ 100 to get vaccinated and ordered mandatory vaccination for all federal workers, otherwise they must undergo periodic diagnostic tests, use of a mask and travel restrictions.
At the same time, the health authorities modified their guidelines to recommend that all vaccinated people wear face masks indoors after confirming that, despite being immunized, a small percentage can become infected.
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July 30, 202102: 38
Asked if she understood that a sector of the population opposes a federal mandate considering that getting vaccinated is a personal decision, Walensky replied: "I fully understand the rejection."
The director of the CDC also added that "this is not different from other vaccines that are mandatory", referring to immunizations required of schoolchildren and health personnel who work in hospitals.
"So I understand both sides of that story," Walensky said.
The multiplication of infections in recent weeks has also prompted the private sector to take action in an attempt to reopen its offices.
Thus, companies such as Netflix, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Lyft, the Saks Fifth Avenue chain or The Washington Post newspaper.
On Friday, two large companies joined this initiative.
On the one hand, Walmart announced that all employees at its headquarters and managers who travel within the United States must be fully vaccinated at the beginning of October.
On the other hand, The Walt Disney Co. will require all of its salaried and non-union employees to be vaccinated within the next 60 days.
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A total of 164 million people were fully vaccinated in the United States on Friday, representing 49.5% of the population.
Another 26 million had received a dose.
The country became the epicenter of the pandemic again this week, after more than 500,000 infections were registered between July 19 and 25, the largest increase in the world.
The authorities insist that the majority of infections and hospitalizations correspond to unvaccinated people.
With information from Reuters and NBC