Coronavirus czar Dr. Anthony Fauci claimed President Joe Biden’s sweeping and constitutionally dubious employer vaccine mandate isn’t extreme at all.
In fact, he says it’s a “moderate” requirement.
The new rule, which requires employers with more than 100 employees to mandate vaccination or require weekly testing, is the result of Biden’s frustration with unvaccinated Americans, Fauci said.
“He is clearly frustrated and understandably so. We have done everything we possibly can do to get people to get vaccinated. We have trusted messengers. We made it easy. It’s simple. It’s safe. It’s free … The data are overwhelming to show why it is so important if we want to get this outbreak under control in this country to get vaccinated. And the president is understandably frustrated, and that’s the reason why he came out with his 6-point plan,” he said.
Asked whether the mandate is too much of an overreach, Fauci said he believes Biden “is being somewhat moderate in his demand, if you want to call it that. And there are some people who really don’t want to get vaccinated but they don’t want to lose their job, so you have to give them an off-lane. And the off-lane is if you get tested frequently enough, and you test positive, you won’t come to work and you won’t infect other people.”
Dr. Fauci on President Biden’s announced rule requiring vaccines or weekly testing: “I think the president is being somewhat moderate in his demand, if you want to call it that.” https://t.co/xd9O77Q30q pic.twitter.com/L5Nb8LhxEV
— The Hill (@thehill) September 10, 2021
However, Biden’s mandate does not make clear who is supposed to provide weekly tests for employees who choose not to get vaccinated.
Businesses might be forced to cover the costs for their own employees, or they might make unvaccinated employees pay for tests on their own.
Fauci’s tone is much different than the one he had in May when he said he recognized an individual’s right not to be “forced” to receive the vaccine.
“You’re going to be discriminating against people and putting people at a disadvantage of essentially forcing them in many respects to get vaccinated,” he said.
