President Joe Biden appeared to mock during a CNN town hall event on Thursday those who reject vaccine mandates because they believe in “freedom.”
“Should police officers, emergency responders be mandated to get vaccines?” CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Biden. “And if not, should they be — stay at home or let go?”
“Yes and yes,” Biden responded. “And, by the way — by the way, I waited until July to talk about mandating, because I tried everything else possible. The mandates are working. All the stuff about people leaving and people getting — you have — you have everyone from United Airlines to Spirit — all these airlines. They’re — we’re not going to get all — 96, 97 percent of the people have gotten the vaccine.”
“All the talk about all these folks who are going to leave the military if they were mandated — not true. You got about a 90-something percent vaccination rate,” he continued. “I mean, so there’s a — the idea is that — look, the two things that concern me — one, are those who just tried to make this a political issue. ‘Freedom. I have the freedom to kill you with my COVID.’ No, I mean, come on. ‘Freedom.'”
WATCH:
Joe Biden on vaccine mandates: "Come on, 'freedom?'" pic.twitter.com/xs3MjLDPI1
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 22, 2021
TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED VIA THE WHITE HOUSE:
MR. COOPER: Mr. President, let me ask you a follow-up about that. As many as one in three emergency responders in some cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, right here in Baltimore, are refusing to comply with city vaccine mandates.
I’m wondering where you stand on that. Should police officers, emergency responders be mandated to get vaccines? And if not, should they be — stay at home or let go?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes and yes. (Applause.)
And, by the way — by the way, I waited until July to talk about mandating, because I tried everything else possible. The mandates are working. All the stuff about people leaving and people getting — you have — you have everyone from United Airlines to Spirit — all these airlines. They’re — we’re not going to get all — 96, 97 percent of the people have gotten the vaccine.
All the talk about all these folks who are going to leave the military if they were mandated — not true. You got about a 90-something percent vaccination rate.
I mean, so there’s a — the idea is that — look, the two things that concern me — one, are those who just tried to make this a political issue. “Freedom. I have the freedom to kill you with my COVID.” No, I mean, come on. “Freedom.” Number one.
Number two — the second one is that, you know, the gross misinformation that’s out there. Like what they’re saying about my buddy Colin Powell — (applause) — and he was my friend — who passed away. “Colin Powell was vaccinated, and he still died.” Well, he knew he had serious underlying conditions. And it would be difficult — he clearly would have been gone earlier had he not gotten the vaccine, had he not gotten the — the shots.
But my generic point is: There’s so much misinformation.
And you know what I find fascinating? I turn on Fox to find out how popular I am. Well, I —