White House press secretary Jen Psaki refused Friday to say how many breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in vaccinated staff there have been at the White House.
A reporter pointed out how President Joe Biden’s administration touts its “transparency” during a White House daily briefing and inquired why it hadn’t released “the number of breakthrough cases” of “vaccinated staffers.” (RELATED: Press Secretary Jen Psaki Says Criticism Of Door-To-Door Vaccination Campaign Is A ‘Disservice To The Country’)
WATCH:
A reporter challenges @PressSec on not releasing the number of breakthrough covid cases among WH staffers:
REPORTER: “Why not just provide the number are you trying to hide something?”@PressSec: “Why do you need to have that information?”
REPORTER: “Transparency…” pic.twitter.com/POVmqkzEFr
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 23, 2021
“I think think first we’re in a very different place than we were six to seven months ago as it relates to the virus,” Psaki replied. “And as many medical experts have said inside and outside of the government of those who are vaccinated are protected of serious illness, most are asymptomatic, if they are individuals who are vaccinated who get the virus.” (RELATED: Psaki Refuses To Definitely Say Cubans Are Fleeing Due To Communism)
“Why not just provide the number?” the reporter pressed further. “Are you trying to hide something?”
“No, but why do you need to have that information?” Psaki responded.
The reporter replied that could be useful in the “case of transparency,” “interest of the public in knowing” and getting a “better understanding of how breakthrough cases work” at the White House.
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,” the press secretary 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, arguing there is already a “range” of means public health officials are using to track who is vaccinated and hospitalized.