CDC Director Says Coronavirus Deaths Among Unvaccinated Americans Keeps Her ‘Awake at Night’

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said the thought of unvaccinated individuals contracting and dying of the Chinese coronavirus keeps her “awake at night,” urging people to “get vaccinated.”

“What keeps me awake at night? Knowing preliminary data from some U.S. states suggests 99.5% of #COVID19 deaths were in unvaccinated ppl. Unnecessary death, unneeded suffering from being unvaccinated,” she said, contending those deaths are “preventable.”

“Get vaccinated,” she added:

What keeps me awake at night? Knowing preliminary data from some US states suggests 99.5% of #COVID19 deaths were in unvaccinated ppl. Unnecessary death, unneeded suffering from being unvaccinated. Those deaths, that pain, are preventable. Get vaccinated: https://t.co/bfOV5VzBpq. https://t.co/jsYzosg6Jc

— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) July 8, 2021

Walensky effectively shamed unvaccinated Americans during Thursday’s White House COVID-19 Response Team briefing, warning of the rapid spread of the Delta variant and classifying it as a major threat to the unvaccinated population.

She warned as she spoke about the delta variant, although she admitted that officials expected it to become the dominant variant in the U.S:

Low vaccination rates in these counties coupled with high case rates and lax mitigation policies that do not protect those who are unvaccinated from the disease will certainly and sadly lead to more unnecessary suffering, hospitalizations, and potentially death.

“Turning the corner on this pandemic, getting back to normal, and stopping the Delta variant requires all of us to do our part and to get vaccinated,” she continued:

Tune in now for this morning’s COVID-19 briefing with Dr. Fauci, Dr. Nunez-Smith, Dr. Walensky, and Jeff Zients. https://t.co/BVuiVaNJit

— White House COVID-19 Response Team (@WHCOVIDResponse) July 8, 2021

Her plea coincides with the Biden administration floating the possibility of going “community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood, and often times door by door — literally knocking on doors to get help to the remaining people” get vaccinated.

“So it is absolutely the government’s business,” Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said of the government going door to door. “It is taxpayers’ business if we have to continue to spend money to try to keep people from contracting Covid [Chinese coronavirus] and helping reopen the economy.”

Becerra added that “knocking on a door has never been against the law” and said people “don’t have to answer. But we hope you do.”

Nearly half of unvaccinated individuals cite a lack of trust in vaccine development and concern over safety as the primary reason for not getting the jab.