CNN’s Dr. Wen Calls on Biden Admin to Consider Vaccine Mandate — ‘Not Just About the Individual, This Is About Our Society

In a Thursday appearance on “CNN Newsroom,” network medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen discussed her op-ed urging President Joe Biden and his administration to consider vaccine mandates.

Wen, the former Baltimore Health Commissioner and former Planned Parenthood president, argued on CNN that mandating the vaccine “is not just about the individual” but “about our society.” She voiced her hope that the Biden administration would get “on board” with a more “societal approach.”

“There is this narrative that the Biden administration and many others have been putting out, which is once you’re vaccinated, you’re fine,” Wen outlined. “And so, the natural conclusion from that is why would you care if others around you are vaccinated or not? If you’re protected, then why not let everybody else just do whatever they want? The fact, though, is that the unvaccinated also affect the vaccinated. If you are a vaccinated person, but you’re living among a lot of unvaccinated individuals … your chance of having a breakthrough infection increases. Your chance of infecting others around you who are unvaccinated also increases.”

She continued, “By the way, the more unvaccinated people there are, the longer this pandemic is going to be here. We have this Delta variant that is so contagious, and that actually increases the threshold of how many people have to be vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity. We could have other variants that make it harder for us to end this pandemic. And so, my point is this is not just about the individual — this is about our society. And I hope that the Biden administration gets on board with that kind of societal approach to health and well-being.”

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