CNN’s Dr. Wen: Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Gives Cover to Businesses that Have Long Wanted to Do This

HARLOW: “OK. So, Dr. Wen, you’ve got 2 million folks who work in these federal jobs as Elliott (ph) said. You’ve got many millions more who work in the private sector. Is that — is this private sector requirement that we’re seeing really ramping up what you think moves the needle?”
WEN: “I think that people have been looking to the Biden administration for leadership on this for a while. I mean, back in April, the federal government was supposed to be working on some type of proof of vaccination.”
HARLOW: “Right.”
WEN: “Maybe they wouldn’t do it themselves, but at least they would work on verification with businesses. And they didn’t do that, and so we then — these businesses were left in the lurch. And so I think the federal government signaling now, hey, vaccine mandates are a good idea. We’re going to do this. It gives cover to these businesses that have long wanted to do this. I mean, we are now seeing — I would equate this to the no smoking indoors. You have the majority of people who are saying, we want to feel safe at work. Equivalent to we don’t want smoke blown in our faces. Although in this case it’s actually worse, it’s being exposed to a potentially fatal illness. And I think at some point we need to say, you don’t have the right to infect others with this disease just like you don’t have the right to be in indoor spaces and blowing smoke in people’s faces. I think at this point, you know, if there are individuals who still are resisting this in some way, the federal government can also say, businesses can say, look, this is not a vaccine mandate. You can also frame this as a testing mandate. You have to test, except that you can opt out if you end up getting the vaccine.”
HARLOW: “Thank you both so much helping us understand this as we go in real time. Dr. Wen, thank you.”