Critics have expressed their objection to President Joe Biden’s plan to go “door-to-door” in areas determined to have low vaccination rates in order to bump up those numbers. The White House later explained that the program was sending willing volunteers — not federal officials — to your home. They also added that the government is definitely not snooping on your personal records to see if you have or haven’t been vaccinated.
CNN Host Brianna Keilar talked to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, about people feeling that it’s not any of the government’s business whether they’ve been vaccinated.
Becerra responded that it is “absolutely” the government’s business to know the vaccination status of every single American.
“I wonder if you can answer that criticism: ‘It’s none of the government’s business knowing who has or hasn’t been vaccinated.’ What do you say?” Keilar asked.
“The federal government has had to spend trillions of dollars to try to keep Americans alive during this pandemic, so it is absolutely the government’s business,” Becerra responded. “It is the taxpayer’s business if we have to continue to spend money to try to keep people from contracting COVID and helping reopen the economy. And so, it is our business to try to make sure Americans can prosper to make sure Americans can freely associate, and knocking on a door has never been against the law.”
Keilar pressed Becerra about talks of federally enforced vaccine mandate, something White House press secretary Jen Psaki has repeatedly denied any intention to pursue.
“There are any number of ways to try to continue to make progress, and the president has demonstrated that he is open to moving in any direction we can to help Americans get safe, be safe, feel safe,” Becerra said. “We’ll continue to provide Americans access. We’re gonna go where you are so that you can get vaccinated.”
“When you take to a vehicle and you drive with your children in that vehicle, you assume everyone will be as responsible as you will behind the wheel. Unfortunately, not everyone is,” Becerra continued. “Do we prohibit people from driving because they won’t be as responsible as you? We again give people choices and we try to have people be responsible. COVID is no different; the vaccine is no different.”
According to a Biden admin official, the government is not collecting personal information for non-vaccinated Americans but they are using data from the CDC to locate areas with low vaccination rates. What they do with that information is up for speculation.
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