Over the past 12-months, President Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki have all said the federal government would not mandate Americans take the Wuhan coronavirus vaccine.
Anthony Fauci, July 2020: “I don’t see [a vaccine mandate] on a national level merely because of all the situations you have upon encroaching upon a person’s freedom to make their own choice of their own health” pic.twitter.com/iHHr2TwIUj
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 10, 2021
That all changed on Thursday.
BIDEN: "This is not about freedom or personal choice." pic.twitter.com/uoOYPew4Me
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 9, 2021
So what happened? During Friday's daily press briefing, Psaki attempted to explain why the mandate was announced and made the administration look completely out of touch in the process.
"The President has said, previously, he did not want to mandate the vaccine. So can you explain why his thinking on this has changed?" a reporter asked.
"We didn't anticipate, once the vaccine was readily, widely available and free to the public across the country -- anyone who wants a vaccine has been able to get one for months -- that there would be such opposition to it, especially given it was approved under the former president, a Republican president," she said. "You know, the second piece of this is that we also anticipated -- or maybe we didn't anticipate, but we knew that a number of people were waiting for FDA approval to get the vaccine; that they said that once it's approved by the FDA, that's what I'm really waiting for. There were more people who were vaccinated in August than July, but there are still 80 million people who are not vaccinated."
CNN REPORTER: "The president has said previously he did not want to mandate the vaccine. Can you explain why his thinking on this has changed?"@PressSec: We did not expect "such opposition to it." pic.twitter.com/cPQkQhxcUv
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 10, 2021
Further, Psaki indicated the White House is considering a vaccine mandate on interstate travel.
"We are always looking at more we can do," says Psaki when asked whether the WH would pursue federally mandated COVID testing for domestic flights. pic.twitter.com/IyDBGm0PUk
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) September 10, 2021
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