Psaki asks why reporter ‘needs that information’ when asked about White House breakthrough COVID cases
Thomas McDonald
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki refused to answer how many breakthrough cases of COVID-19 there have been at the White House among vaccinated staff.
“This administration has long claimed that it’s trying to be the most transparent in history. If that’s the case, why won’t you just release the number of breakthrough cases that you have among vaccinated staffers?” A White House reporter asked Psaki.
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“Why not just provide the number? Are you trying to hide something?” the reporter says after Psaki gives a nearly 30-second long non-answer to the question.
“No, but what is the, why do you need to have that information?” Psaki quickly says in return.
“In the case of transparency, the interest of the public having a better understanding of how breakthrough cases work here in the White House,” the reporter responds.
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Psaki responded by explaining how the CDC has been tracking breakthrough cases of vaccinated individuals across the country as well as “a great deal of tracking in cohorts.”
“For example, the CDC has a long-term care facility study where it is getting data from more than 14,000 long-term care facilities,” she added. “CDC has a health care worker study where they monitor vaccinated health care workers who got tested, who get tested with PCR test every single week.”
“And CDC also collects what they call passive surveillance which is where hospitals provide CDC with data where they identify someone who is hospitalized but has been vaccinated,” Psaki continued, asserting that there is already a “range” of ways the government and health officials are tracking who is vaccinated and who is hospitalized.