Mark this down. This is the moment that the White House made clear that they aren’t concerned about safety repercussions due to the fallout from their vaccine mandate.
Peter Doocy asked a couple of times if the White House was worried about the US military or police departments shrinking because of vaccine mandates.
Regarding the military, Psaki claimed that 90% were already vaccinated and dismissed the question of whether soldiers being discharged would affect their readiness.
On the shrinking of police forces across the country, Psaki simply claimed that the number one reason for police officer deaths last year was COVID and therefore they are simply trying to protect the lives of police officers.
First of all, COVID was the number one reason for deaths last year across the board. So using it as an excuse to force it on police officers is silly.
Second of all, the effect of the mandate on public safety is a very real concern and it’s absurd for Psaki to dismiss it. Given the toxic attitudes in the country toward police officers, it’s hard enough to keep enough officers on the police force because some of them have completely left the profession or moved to other cities because of BLMers. If I had to guess, recruitment is probably at an all time low or near it.
And then to add on top of this crisis in law enforcement a freaking mandate that will result in the termination of officers who refuse to get vaccinated is just insane. It is making an already bad situation much worse and people in these cities affected by these mandates are the ones who will suffer the most with skyrocketing crime.