‘Stunning hypocrisy’ for Biden administration to push back against the CDC’s approval to open schools: Farah
Fox News Outnumbered panel reacts to the Biden administration refusing to reopen schools despite the Center for Disease Control's approval.
The Biden administration is hypocritical for appearing to dismiss the Center for Disease Control's guidance for reopening schools, former Trump White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah said on Friday.
"She is the CDC director, regardless of where she's speaking and at what time. But I would just say imagine for a moment if the Trump White House had dared to question something that came out from the doctors or the scientists," Farah told "Outnumbered."
"We were regularly accused of being anti-science for even weighing other policy options and factoring in other things to the Covid response, like the economy, for example," Farah said.
PSAKI SAYS BIDEN WANTS SCHOOLS OPEN, BUT WON'T COMMIT TO STANDING UP TO UNION OBSTRUCTION
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday reiterated that President Biden wants to see children back in classrooms, but would not commit to standing up to unions if forced to choose between the prolific Democratic donors and reopening schools.
Psaki also said that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky wasn't discussing official CDC guidance but rather new data as she's repeatedly said in recent days that teachers don't need to be vaccinated for schools to reopen in person.
"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. "[Biden] believes that even with vaccinations for teachers or for any American, that there are a number of other mitigation steps that are important to take ... the wearing of masks, social distancing, ventilation, these are all factors that are important for ... the reopening of schools."
Walensky on Wednesday, in the same White House briefing room that Psaki spoke from Thursday, said vaccines do not appear to be necessary for schools to open in person.
"I want to be very clear about schools, which is: Yes, ACIP has put teachers in the 1b category, the category of essential workers," the CDC director said. "But 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."
"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." Walensky added.
Psaki also did not answer a question about if, as negotiations continue, it becomes clear unions will refuse to let schools open for in-person learning, whether the Biden administration will take a stand against them.
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Farah argued that it is "hypocritical" for the Biden administration to not reopen schools as the CDC director approved.
"So it's really a stunning degree of hypocrisy that now they have the medical experts, they have the scientists proving that it is safe to get kids back in the classroom, yet they're politicizing it and holding it off purely because of pressure that Democrats are receiving from teachers unions," Farah said.
"It's tragic. It is sad. We are going to see the consequences of not having kids in schools for decades to come, and it will be a failure of this administration that allowed it to happen."
Fox News' Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
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