CDC stands firm on mask stance
On Sunday, the CDC went on the offense defending its position on changing the mask guidance for vaccinated Americans. Anjalee Khemlani breaks down how the CDC’s position, which the organization says has to do with evolving science and not political motives.
Video transcript
JULIE HYMAN: Well, the CDC has come under fire in some quarters for changing its mass guidance perhaps too abruptly or not clearly enough. Those are some of the criticisms being leveled at the agency. Anjalee Khemlani is here with us. So that a change in guidance coming on Friday and, essentially, lifting a lot of mask requirements for a lot of places for vaccinated people. So what do we know about what was behind the decision and why it has been a little bit controversial?
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Well, the whole story is very complicated. And many reports do highlight different parts of what came into play to make this decision. Largely speaking, the CDC did get new data to support the idea that vaccinated individuals do not have to wear masks in most spaces. Earlier last month, we saw where there was almost a checklist of, are you indoors, outdoors, with vaccinated people or unvaccinated people. And it was very complex and a lot of criticism for that as well, saying that the average person could not possibly understand a lot of that.
So with the new data supporting just how strongly these vaccines are working, the CDC did go ahead and lift that mandate, or rather, the guidance on where masks can be worn. And it is important to point out that there are still places where individuals should wear masks, even if vaccinated, including transportation hubs. But we've seen just how this is all playing out over the weekend, with states choosing to either keep their mask mandates in place if they already have them or those-- or businesses choosing whether or not to lift mask mandates.
And it really is confusing. There are some people who are still wary of it, knowing that, of course, breakthrough cases are still possible. So it's possibly even more confusing now, because people have been so cautious or want to remain more cautious. And that's something the CDC does have to deal with right now.
JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, well, it seems like it certainly can't hurt to wear a mask if people still want to do that. I also want to ask about some of the developments we're seeing in vaccinations, but also in the coronavirus spread around the globe. We know Indian cases falling a little bit. But we're seeing big flare-ups in other places like Taiwan, as there are some developments with other new vaccines that haven't been approved yet.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: That's right. So looking at what's happening in Taiwan, they've got more than 700 cases in the past three days, all from, basically, a hotel or a hub where quarantined individuals, as well as transit visitors, were in place. And so that is kind of pointing to the need for, A, vaccines and, B, still more mitigation practices to stay in place. As we know, this virus continues to travel around the world. Experts have said repeatedly it does not know borders.
So what's happening in Taiwan right now is sort of interesting to watch. They have less than 1% of the population receiving at least one dose of the vaccine. Compare that to, of course, the mask debate and everything that's going on here in the US with vaccinations. We know that 43-- more than 43% of the population is now vaccinated. And that's really positive news by comparison. But what still needs to be looked at, of course, is how all the mitigation tactics are going to go into play.
And what is happening with the vaccine rollout, globally speaking, we got news out of Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline today, saying that their vaccine, which they've been working on jointly, finally did get out of phase two. And they do have a positive readout of that trial. And they're now about to enter phase three.
An interesting timeline, of course, because we know that there are so many countries that have large vaccination numbers like the US, but there are still, as in the case of Taiwan, many countries without it. And they do see that as the market, as well as potentially a large booster market for this vaccine. So they're still rolling through with that. So, a lot coming out right now and still-- sad to say, but still, we're very much in the middle of this pandemic, at least globally speaking.
JULIE HYMAN: Yes, definitely so. So hopefully we can see some more of those vaccines come online. Thank you so much, Angelee. Appreciate it.
