‘It is absolutely our business' to know who gets vaccinated, Biden health secretary says

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Cassidy Morrison
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Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra argued that the federal government is entitled to know who in the United States has been vaccinated, responding to anger from GOP House members who say the Biden administration is infringing on personal liberty.

“Perhaps we should point out that the federal government has had to spend trillions of dollars to try to keep Americans alive during this pandemic, so it is absolutely the government’s business. It is taxpayers' business if we have to continue to spend money to try to keep people from contracting COVID and helping reopen the economy,” Becerra said on CNN Thursday.

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Becerra rejected arguments from the Right that the Biden administration is trying to override the public’s freedom to choose not to be vaccinated. His remarks come just days after President Joe Biden announced that his administration would shift its focus from getting as many people vaccinated as possible to dealing with persistent vaccine hesitancy in certain parts of the country with exceptionally low vaccination rates, primarily in states in the South and the Midwest. Biden had pledged to “go to community by community … and oftentimes door to door, literally knocking on doors," eliciting anger from Republicans.

Texas Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw, for example, said the administration is “not my parents. ... Make the vaccine available, and let people be free to choose.”


Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs tweeted Wednesday, “In 2021, the nine most terrifying words in the English language: ‘I'm from the government, have you been vaccinated yet?’” Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, meanwhile, tweeted Tuesday, "Door to door to vaccinate Americans this year… door to door to confiscate guns next year?"

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To date, more than 67% of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Roughly 58% of adults have been fully vaccinated.

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Tags: Healthcare, News, Coronavirus, HHS, Xavier Becerra, Biden Administration, Dan Crenshaw, Lauren Boebert, Vaccination

Original Author: Cassidy Morrison

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