Meghan McCain said Friday that she believed the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and President Joe Biden had flipped on face mask recommendations for political reasons.
McCain and her cohosts on ABC’s “The View” discussed the Thursday update — from both the CDC and the Biden administration — stating that fully vaccinated people should not be required to wear masks or practice social distancing whether indoors or outside. (RELATED: ‘Are The Experts Not Following Their Own Science?’: Meghan McCain Challenges Dr. Sanjay Gupta On Moving COVID-19 Goalposts)
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Joy Behar said she was still bit apprehensive about loosening mask guidelines when it was impossible to tell who had and had not been vaccinated. “I don’t love it 100%. I don’t think they were right to jump the gun so quickly,” she said. “Meghan, are you celebrating the announcement?”
“I was really happy yesterday,” McCain replied, adding that her main concerns was how the government might proceed if people were being asked to prove that they were vaccinated. “When we’re talking about having to show proof of vaccination, just from a legal standpoint, there’s a lot of civil liberties issues here.”
McCain went on to say that even though she herself was vaccinated and advocated that others get the vaccine as well, she had a problem with vaccines being mandated. “I think it’s a slippery slope for a lot of different reasons,” she said.
“The question I had yesterday is what was the magic threshold for the CDC. Last week I had to wear a mask doing anything, double mask, triple mask, even masked in the shower,” McCain continued. “Now it’s fine. Everything is fine. I don’t have to wear a mask in the office anymore.”
She went on to argue that the change in policy was a direct response to inflation and to the unemployment numbers continuing to go in the wrong direction.
“This has always been political. It continues to be political,” McCain added. “I think the administration saw that less people were going to work. People were still feeling hesitant about the virus. People were still getting their stimulus money and staying home. I think the Biden administration is smart enough to realize people have to go back to work.”
“Regarding the civil rights, though, I mean, we are mandated to wear seat belts. You can get a ticket if you don’t. You have to have a driver’s license. There are lots of rules and regulations in place. I don’t see why this violates civil rights,” Behar pushed back.
“Civil liberties,” McCain corrected, going on to note that there was already a black market for fake vaccine cards that would only grow if people were going to be forced to show proof of their vaccine.