Obama: Zika Is Not Ebola — ‘A Lot of People Get It and Don’t Even Know That They Have It’

In an interview that aired on “CBS This Morning” on Monday, President Barack Obama weighed in on the threat of the Zika virus posed to the country.

Obama downplayed the threat and urged people not to panic.

“The good news is this is not like Ebola, people don’t die of Zika — a lot of people get it and don’t even know that they have it,” Obama said. “What we now know is that there appears to be some significant risk for pregnant women or women who are thinking about getting pregnant … We don’t know exactly what the relations there are, but there is enough correlation that we have to take this very seriously.”

“So, we’re going to be putting up a legislative proposal to Congress to resource both the research on vaccines and diagnostics but also helping in terms of public health systems,” he continued. “But there shouldn’t be panic on this, this is not something where people are going to die from it. It is something we have to take seriously.”

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