CDC director says agency will still recommend masks in schools when vaccines for children ages 5-11 are authorized
During the White House COVID response team briefing on Wednesday, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said that even after COVID-19 vaccines are authorized for kids ages 5-11, masks will still be recommended for schools as the vaccination rollout for that age group begins.
Video transcript
- After we have authorization from FDA and recommendations from CDC, we will be working to scale up pediatric vaccination. That said, it will take some time. And as I just noted, as we head into these winter months, we know we cannot be complacent. We also know that, from previous data, that schools that have had masks in place were three and a half times less likely to have school outbreaks requiring school closure. So right now, we are going to continue to recommend masks in all schools for all people in those schools, and we will look forward to scaling up pediatric vaccination during this period of time.
