As the daily average of COVID-19 cases increases to over 1,000 in the United States, a health expert said that not getting vaccinated is akin to driving while intoxicated.
In a Friday interview with Wolf Blitzer, CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen likened “the choice to remain unvaccinated” with “the choice to go out and drive intoxicated.” The expert’s remarks come as President Joe Biden recently announced a COVID-19 vaccine mandate rule that orders the U.S. Labor Department to require all businesses with 100 employees or more to ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested once a week.
“We’re in the middle of the biggest public health crisis of our lifetimes. We have more than a thousand Americans who are dying every single day. We, as a society, set laws that protect people’s health and well-being all the time,” Wen said.
Biden had also signed an executive order requiring all government employees to get their COVID-19 vaccine shots, with no option for regular testing to opt out.
Biden’s executive orders have received criticisms from several Republicans who called the mandate “overreaching.” Even health experts said that the president should have implemented stricter measures to avoid the recent surge of COVID-19 cases.
Wen expressed her disagreement with the Republicans opposing the executive order, saying, “From a public health perspective, it is not overreach at all. And in fact, I wish that they came out earlier and went even further,” Wen said.
