Shafaq News/ U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday her agency is standing by its recommendation that vaccinated people do not need to wear masks inside, even as some U.S. areas — and the World Health Organization — recently said otherwise.
During televised interviews with U.S. television networks, Walensky was asked about officials in Los Angeles County and Illinois recommending that even vaccinated people wear masks to curb the spread of the Delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19. The WHO also recently recommended vaccinated people wear masks.
Regarding the WHO, Walenksy told interviewers the organization has to address its policies and safety recommendations to the entire world, where fewer than 15% of the total population has received one dose or more of the vaccine.
She said that in the United States, two-thirds of the adult population is fully vaccinated, and the CDC continues to say fully vaccinated people do not have to wear masks.
But Walensky added the CDC has always said in areas where vaccination rates are low and new cases continue at a high rate — especially involving the Delta variant — then local officials should decide their own rules regarding mask use or other precautions.
