CDC director speaks out on reopening schools

At his town-hall forum Tuesday night, Biden denied that his administration ever thought one day of classroom instruction a week would be enough to declare victory in his pledge to get most schools for younger children open by spring.

Guthrie, obviously sensing Harris was avoiding a direct answer, pressed her again: "But if they're not vaccinated, is it safe for them?" While the CDC encourages educators who can to get vaccinated, the CDC says that getting teachers fully vaccinated should not be a determining factor in reopening schools.

He said it "wasn't a trick question" and asked Sanders whether the White House's position matches the CDC's that teacher vaccinations aren't a prerequisite for opening schools.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky publicly admitted that the agency's new school reopening guidelines were informed by the opinions of anti-in-person-learning teachers unions. White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded by saying, puzzlingly, that Walensky had made the comments "in her personal capacity" - even though she said it during an official administration briefing and later on TV.

"Vaccinating teachers are a part of it but it's not something that you can't open a school unless all the teachers are vaccinated", Fauci said in an interview on ABC News' "This Week". "We don't know whether we are going to need booster vaccinations".

More on the analysis: The CNN analysis used the latest federal data on new case rates and test positivity rates, published Sunday by the US Department of Health and Human Services, to determine each county's risk threshold according to CDC guidelines.

Mr. Biden has proposed $130 billion in funds for K-12 schools in his $1.9-trillion Covid-19 relief plan, now before Congress. "And too many schools do not have in place the basic protections that the CDC has said are universally required". At other times in his remarks, he said millions of doses had been administered during the Trump administration and more accurately characterized the conditions he inherited.

Before his slip, Biden said 50 million doses were available when he became president but "there was nothing in the refrigerator figuratively and literally speaking", meaning no backup stock to draw from in those early weeks.

The US would reassert its global role in speaking up for human rights, Mr Biden said, adding that he would work with the worldwide community to get China to protect them.

"Sometimes, because things are moving so fast, not because of the burden, it feels like four years", Mr. Biden said. He said he believes he lacks the authority to forgive student loan debt on a larger scale.

The trip also comes just three days after the Senate acquitted Trump in his second impeachment trial.

Senior editor of "Reason", Robby Soave questioned whether the mainstream media and President Biden were "on the same side" Wednesday after critics slammed CNN and host Anderson Cooper for softball questions posed to Biden during a CNN town hall. "I'm exhausted of talking about Trump".