‘We follow the science’ – Reuters

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr Rochelle Walensky defended the agency’s Covid-19 mask guidance policies amid widespread criticism from lawmakers and health officials.

“These questions are complex, science evolves, science evolves, and we follow science every day and our advice evolves as science evolves,” Walensky said in an interview Wednesday on CNBC. “The News with Shepard Blacksmith. ”

Walensky highlighted the decline in Covid cases in the country and the increase in vaccination rates. The US positivity rate has dropped to 3.1%, the lowest in the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University. Almost 59% of adults have received at least one vaccine, according to the CDC.

The CDC chief also told the host Shepard Smith that the guidelines will change soon, after the agency approves the administration of Pfizer’s and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to adolescents aged 12 to 15. .

“Today we have vaccines available, now for 12 to 15 year olds, [the agency’s guidelines are] is going to have to evolve again, and I’m really excited to update them very soon, ”said Walensky.

Smith also asked Walensky why, if everyone in his office was vaccinated, they still had to wear masks inside. She explained that the CDC wants to make sure the vaccines work against all variants circulating in the United States, and that “you are not an asymptomatic carrier if you are vaccinated” before removing masks indoors altogether.

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