White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate will save lives on Thursday, but he was unable to provide an estimate for how many may be saved.
The Biden administration on Thursday set a Jan. 4 deadline for large employers, including private ones, to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated. The mandate covers an estimated 84 million private sector workers. Workers who decline a vaccine must instead undergo a weekly test.
Some state officials and Republican lawmakers have argued that the mandate is an overreach of Biden’s constitutional authority. He previously required vaccines for federal workers.
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Fauci, who is also director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before the committee about the government’s COVID-19 response. During the hearing, Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said he has “concerns” about the mandate, particularly when it comes to private employers, but asked Fauci if such a mandate would save lives, and if so, how many.
Fauci said he had a “firm and confident answer” for Romney’s first question, but not his second.
“We know that vaccines absolutely save lives,” Fauci said.
Fauci also argued that “mandates work,” citing how United Airlines said 99% of its U.S.-based workforce has either gotten vaccinated or applied for religious or medical exemptions since the company introduced its own vaccine requirement.
“So if you take the fact that mandates work, and vaccines absolutely save lives, the answer to your question is yes, it does save lives,” Fauci said. “How, what that number is, you’d have to do modeling, senator, that I don’t have in front of me right now to determine.”
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Fauci said information could likely be modeled. Romney said such an estimate would be “helpful for me and for others who are concerned about mandates.”
“We’re also concerned about lives lost and protecting human life,” Romney said.
