Biden Health Secretary Defends Forcing 2-Year-Olds to Wear Masks

The Division of Well being and Human Companies Secretary Xavier Becerra defended a coverage overseen by his division that required 2-year-olds to put on masks via the COVID-19 pandemic throughout a Tuesday Home Committee on Schooling and the Workforce listening to.

Republican California Rep. Kevin Kiley requested Becerra what the advantages had been of a masks mandate on 2-year-olds put in place by Head Begin, a nationwide government-run program to offer toddlers of low-income households faculty readiness. Becerra defended the choice, saying that taking needed precautions was important to saving lives through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Mr. Secretary, did forcing 2-year-olds to put on masks save lives?” Kiley requested.

“Ensuring individuals had been masked when it was acceptable was important to creating certain we had been capable of get out of this pandemic,” Becerra responded.

Till a number of months into 2022, Head Begin, which is underneath the Division of Well being and Human Companies, required not solely workers of this system, however kids as younger as 2 years outdated to put on a masks always, even when outdoors. In Might 2023, Becerra eliminated the regulatory vaccine requirement and weekly testing requirement for all Head Begin workers, in accordance to a press launch.

(To observe the video, click on this hyperlink.)

“Proper now, are you able to level to any proof that there was a public well being profit to forcing younger kids to put on masks?” Kiley requested Becerra on the listening to.

“Nicely the truth that at present we aren’t dropping lives the best way we misplaced them after we first acquired into this pandemic,” Becerra responded earlier than Kiley minimize his reply quick, asking if lives had been saved as a result of 2-year-olds had been required to put on masks.

“That’s your interpretation,” Becerra responded. “What I’m saying to you is that utilizing good insurance policies that give us the precautions to maintain our households from contracting COVID are serving to save lives.”

In April, a Texas federal choose halted the Head Begin program that required 2-year-olds to put on masks, ruling that the HHS had no authority to impose such mandate. The masks and COVID-19 vaccine mandates triggered Head Begin administrators to undergo workers and pupil shortages.

Initially revealed by The Day by day Caller Information Basis.

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