On February 3, 2021 CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during an official White House press conference that teachers do not need to be vaccinated in order to safely go back to work inside the classroom.
"I also want to be clear that there is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely,” Walensky said. "So while we are implementing the criteria of the advisory committee and of the state and local guidances to get vaccination across these eligible communities, I would also say that safe reopening of schools is not — that vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools.”
"I also want to be clear that there is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely,” she continued. "I would also say that safe reopening of schools is not, that vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools.”
The teacher's union erupted and the following day, February 4, 2021, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki undercut Walensky's message.
"Dr. Walensky spoke to this in her personal capacity. Obviously, she's the head of the CDC, but we're going to wait for the final guidance to come out so we can use that as a guide for schools around the country," Psaki said.
The White House has repeatedly denied they allow politics to dictate the "science" on Wuhan coronavirus, but we now know that isn't true and that teacher's unions are heavily influencing CDC guidance. From the New York Post:
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The American Federation of Teachers lobbied the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on, and even suggested language for, the federal agency’s school-reopening guidance released in February.
The powerful teachers union’s full-court press preceded the federal agency putting the brakes on a full re-opening of in-person classrooms, emails between top CDC, AFT and White House officials show.
The emails were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the conservative watchdog group Americans for Public Trust and provided to The Post.
The documents show a flurry of activity between CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, her top advisors and union officials — with Biden brass being looped in at the White House — in the days before the highly-anticipated Feb. 12 announcement on school-reopening guidelines.
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