President Joe Biden falsely claimed in an interview on Tuesday that people who were vaccinated for the coronavirus could not spread the disease.
“Everybody talks about freedom about not to have a shot or have a test,” Biden said. “Well guess what? How about patriotism? How about you make sure you’re vaccinated, so you do not spread the disease to anybody else? What about that? What’s the big deal?”
The president commented on vaccines during an interview with local news channel WHIO-TV in Ohio.
The Centers for Disease Control has acknowledged that “vaccinated people can still become infected and have the potential to spread the virus to others,” which is why they recommend that Americans continue to wear masks indoors, even if they are vaccinated.
In an interview with News19, Biden also blamed the unvaccinated for spreading the virus.
“[T]hose who aren’t vaccinated are the ones that continue to spread the diseases,” he said. “And so we should think of as a patriotic duty.”
When asked if he would back down from his federal vaccine mandates after they were held up in the courts, Biden said he would keep pursuing them.
“I’m going to continue to fight those in court,” he said.
Biden also repeated his argument that the pandemic was only affecting the unvaccinated.
“This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Not the vaccinated, the unvaccinated. That’s the problem,” he said.