Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke Sunday about the possibility of vaccine mandates for domestic air travel, which challenges a comment made by President Joe Biden.
On ABC News’ “This Week”, Fauci was asked if he agrees with the president’s comment that a domestic air travel vaccine mandate was not “necessary at this time”.
Co-host Jonathan Karl asked “Do you agree with that? That there shouldn’t be a vaccine requirement for domestic air travel?”
“Well, it depends on what you want to use it for,” Fauci responded. “I mean, vaccine requirements for people coming in from other countries is to prevent newly infected people from getting into the country”.
Fauci explained that a requirement like that would serve as a “mechanism that would spur them [people] to get vaccinated”. “I mean, anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome,” he added.
Democrats have urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Federal Aviation Administration to impose vaccine mandates for domestic air travel.
As of right now, either a negative test or proof of vaccination is required for international air travel, and lawmakers argue that those rules should include domestic travel.
Fauci also discussed mask-wearing on planes, saying “I think if you look at wearing a mask and the filtration on planes, things are reasonably safe”.
“We wanna make sure people keep their masks on. I think the idea of taking masks off in my mind is really not something we should even be considering,” he added.
