White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is firing back at Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster for his comments about President Joe Biden’s vaccine plan.
During a White House press briefing on Friday, a reporter mentioned a statement made by McMaster about Biden’s door-to-door vaccine initiative.
“Enticing, coercing, intimidating, mandating, or pressuring anyone to take the vaccine is a bad policy which will deteriorate the public’s trust and confidence in the State’s vaccination efforts,” McMaster said.
McMaster also said he is going to prohibit the state health agency from using the administration’s strategies.
When asked for her response to his statement, Psaki explained, “The failure to provide accurate public health information, including the efficacy of vaccines and the accessibility of them, to people across the country, including South Carolina, is literally killing people, so maybe they should consider that.”
Watch part of the press briefing below:
“The failure to provide accurate public health information … is literally killing people, so maybe they should consider that.”
— The Recount (@therecount) July 9, 2021
— WH Press Sec. Jen Psaki on pushback from Republican governors regarding federal officials promoting the vaccine. pic.twitter.com/hEhBBpEiaF
Biden said while delivering remarks on Tuesday, “Now we need to go community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood and often times door-to-door – literally knocking on doors – to get help to the remaining people protected from the virus.”
During a press briefing ahead of Biden’s remarks, Psaki said the outreach would ensure Americans “have the information they need on how both safe and accessible the vaccine is.”
The announcement sparked strong reactions from Republicans.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) wrote on Twitter, “How about don’t knock on my door. You’re not my parents. You’re the government. Make the vaccine available, and let people be free to choose. Why is that concept so hard for the left?”
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) also tweeted, “It’s NONE of the governments business knowing who has or hasn’t been vaccinated.”
U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra told CNN, “The federal government has spent trillions of dollars to try to keep Americans alive during this pandemic. So it is absolutely the government’s business. It is taxpayers’ business.”
He added, “It is our business to try to make sure Americans can prosper, Americans can freely associate. And knocking on the door has never been against the law. You don’t have to answer, but we hope you do.”