CDC director recommends vaccine passports as ‘path forward’ for Americans

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CDC director recommends vaccine passports as ‘path forward’ for Americans

The endorsement of vaccine passports comes amid increasingly heavy-handed moves by state and federal governments to force Americans to get the experimental drug.

ATLANTA, July 29, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said forcing Americans to show proof of having received a COVID-19 shot to engage in ordinary life “may very well be the path forward.”

During an interview Tuesday on CNN, an anchor asked Walensky whether she believed “health passes” like those currently issued in Europe, which give vaccinated citizens access to public venues while barring those who have chosen not to get the shot, might be implemented in the United States. 

“You know I think some communities are doing that, and that may very well be the path forward,” Walensky said. 

She then went on to justify the CDC’s recent flip-flop on mask guidance by remarking that even in venues in which people are “fully vaccinated,” unmasked individuals may still transmit COVID-19. 

It’s unclear what data Walensky was referencing to make the judgment about masking, and how small of a risk of transmission would be acceptable for refraining from taking up mask mandates, social distancing, and other COVID-19 related impositions.

Walensky said the CDC’s mask guidance update, which would impose masking upon roughly two-thirds of Americans, was based upon “new data.” But the information allegedly used to motivate the change has not been released to the public.

“Outside scientists” told The Washington Post on Thursday that the CDC report recommending vaccinated Americans don face masks again only cites “unpublished data” as its scientific rationale. The scientists are requesting the CDC release this “new,” “unpublished data” for review.

According to the Post, the CDC justified its reversal by claiming that “[p]eople who have had their shots and become infected with the delta variant of the coronavirus can harbor large amounts of virus just like unvaccinated people. That means they could become spreaders of the disease and should return to wearing masks indoors in certain situations, including when vulnerable people are present.”

However, the CDC has not publicly demonstrated how it arrived at that conclusion.

“They’re making a claim that people with delta who are vaccinated and unvaccinated have similar levels of viral load, but nobody knows what that means,” Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health, told the Post. “It’s meaningless unless we see the data.”

The latest commentary from Walensky and the CDC advocating vaccine passports and a return to masking in U.S. counties with low vaccination rates set off a wave of outrage this week, with conservatives urging Americans not to go along with the new guidance.

In a July 27 statement, former President Donald Trump said, “We won’t go back. We won’t mask our children. Joe Biden and his administration learned nothing from the last year.”

“Brave Americans learned how to safely and responsibly live and fight back,” Trump added. “Don’t surrender to COVID. Don’t go back! Why do Democrats distrust the science? Don’t let this happen to our children or our Country.” 

Ohio state Senator Michael Rulli suggested Wednesday that “Americans will NOT comply with another wave of mandates and lockdowns.”

Earlier this week, the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first federal department to require COVID-19 jabs for medical employees including facilities staff, and California and New York moved to force state employees and health care professionals to take the shot, be subject to regular testing, or lose their jobs.

President Joe Biden is expected to announce a government-wide vaccine mandate for all federal government employees.

In addition to imposing vaccine mandates, the Biden administration has refused to rule out a new wave of lockdowns.

During a press conference Thursday, principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told  reporters that if scientists recommended a return to lockdowns and school closures, the administration would “listen to the CDC, and the expert[s], and their guidance.”

While many governors are expected to go along with the CDC’s fluctuating guidance regarding masks, lockdowns, and vaccine passports, some governors have already signaled their intention to buck the agency’s guidance, promising to prevent a return to mandates, lockdowns, or the introduction of vaccine passports in their states.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said that he would block mask mandates imposed by the federal government or enacted by Florida schools, and signed a bill to forbid vaccine passports at both the public and private level in his state.

In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott also banned vaccine passports whether attempted by government or private entities, and signed an executive order banning mask mandates. 

On Thursday, Abbott denied the request of San Antonio mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff to impose a mask mandate in schools and government buildings.

In a FOX News interview Wednesday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said the moves to reimpose mask mandates and force Americans to take the experimental drugs are “pure politics.” 

“As a political matter, the Democrats decided they want to control your lives,” Cruz said. “They want everyone to wear a mask. My view is real simple: We shouldn't have federal government mandates on COVID. That means no mask mandates. That means no vaccine mandates. That means no vaccine passports. This should be a question of individual choice.”

“The CDC has destroyed their credibility,” Cruz added. “A year and a half ago, the CDC was one of the most respected scientific organizations in the world and they allowed themselves to be politicized — with Dr. Fauci at the helm of the politicization — and right now their credibility is in tatters because they behave more like an arm of the DNC than an actual, serious medical and scientific organization.”