Since Joe Biden has taken office, many more vaccination shots are getting into the arms of Americans. Over the last week, the country has averaged over 2 million vaccinations each day.
The US is getting very close to getting back to normal, but it is not there yet. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said earlier this week that she was very worried that states would roll back their safety measures.
And not surprisingly, that has started to happen. On Tuesday, Texas governor Greg Abbott tried to distract from his recent weather disaster by opening up al businesses and removing mask updates. Not to be outdone, Mississippi governor Tate Reeves soon followed suit.
Joe Biden was asked about those decisions on Wednesday. “I think it’s a big mistake,” he responded.
The President continued, “Look, I hope everybody has realized by now, these masks make a difference. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because they way we’ve been able to get vaccines in people’s arms.”
Biden closed, “The last thing we need is neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, ‘everything’s fine, take off your masks.’ Forget it, it still matters. As of yesterday, we’ve lost 511,874 Americans. We’ll lose thousands more. This will not occur, we will not have everyone vaccinated until some time in the summer. We have the vaccine to do it. It’s critical, critical, critical, critical, that they follow the science.
Watch a clip of the statement below, courtesy of NBC News:
NEW: President Biden calls Texas and Mississippi decisions to end mask mandates “a big mistake” and criticizes what he views as “Neanderthal thinking” after CDC warned against complacency in the face of emerging coronavirus variants on Monday. pic.twitter.com/Mmdln3gNG6
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 3, 2021
Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.