President Joe Biden took a shot at unvaccinated Americans, saying they were “not as smart” as he thought they were.
The president was asked on Tuesday, “Will you require all federal employees to get vaccinated?”
“That’s under consideration right now,” he responded before turning his attention to the millions of Americans who are not vaccinated.
He continued, “If you’re not vaccinated, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were.”
When asked if he was concerned new mask-wearing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would create confusion, Biden said, “We have a pandemic because of the unvaccinated, and they’re sowing enormous confusion.”
“And the more we learn about this virus and the Delta variation, the more we have to be worried and concerned. And [there’s] only one thing we know for sure if those other 100 million people got vaccinated, we’d be in a very different world.”
Finally, he said, “So get vaccinated. If you haven’t, you’re not nearly as smart as I said you were.”
Watch the video below:
BREAKING: Pres. Biden tells ABC’s @sarahkolinovsky that he is considering a mandate for all federal employees to get COVID-19 vaccines.
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 27, 2021
“That’s under consideration right now, but if you’re not vaccinated you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were.” https://t.co/si3klnHefV pic.twitter.com/6XxbDy6PRk
Biden’s comments come as there has been a 144% increase in the average number of new cases recorded per day compared to the prior 14-days.
Health experts have said the current surge in new cases is because not enough Americans have gotten vaccinated against the virus.
Jerome Adams, the surgeon general under former President Donald Trump, told CBS News on Sunday that the pandemic is “spiraling out of control because we don’t have enough people vaccinated.”
As of Tuesday, 49.2% of the population is fully vaccinated, and 56.9% has received at least one dose of the vaccine.