The U.S. Government Continues With Mixed Messaging & Botched Pandemic Guidance

Pandemics are difficult enough to manage in the best of circumstances. Now imagine being in a pandemic in which the government cannot provide the simple of task of clear and concise messaging on prevention and mitigation strategies. Guess what? We do not have to imagine. That is how the U.S. government has behaved throughout the pandemic. As I detailed in May, the federal government blundered messaging and recommendations on multiple topics, including face mask usage, outdoor risk transmission, herd immunity, and school closures. One would think that with a change of administration, maybe the federal government could do a better job. Yet, as I will outline below, the government continues to fumble its guidance.     

• Herd Immunity: NIAID Director Anthony Fauci initially said that herd immunity was about 60 percent. In a New York Times interview, Fauci admitted that he pushed the number up to 85 percent based on him looking at polling data, as opposed to any scientific process. Biden has now outdone Fauci in terms of moving the goalposts. Just this past week, Biden said that we should make the objective to have around 96 to 98 percent vaccination rate before we get back to normal. We went from "two weeks to flatten the curve" to "wait a bit longer" to "let's wait for the vaccines" to "let's have a 60 percent vaccine rate." And now, we are at the point where the President is espousing an untenable goal, especially when you consider vaccine hesitancy. What is an acceptable goal before we go to something resembling a pre-pandemic normal? Best-case scenario, the Biden administration has no clue. Worst-case scenario, the Biden administration wants to prolong the fear-mongering as long as humanly possible. 
• Breakthrough Cases and Face Masks: Are vaccines 100 percent effective? No, they are not. Nothing in life is risk-free. But even with the Delta variant, vaccines remain the most effective way to prevent severe COVID cases. Vaccinated individuals are much less likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID than unvaccinated individuals (e.g., Riley et al., 2021). CDC Director Rochelle Walensky exaggerated the threat of breakthrough cases with the CDC's Provincetown case study, much like she exaggerated the risk of outdoor transmission. This continued mentality of heightened risk aversion, this time with breakthrough cases, resulted in the CDC recommending that vaccinated individuals wear masks once more.  If transmission is now predominantly from the unvaccinated, why should the vaccinated endure another round of mask-wearing? What sort of messaging does this send regarding vaccine effectiveness?  
• Booster Shots: Should there be booster shots? If so, should everyone have them or should they be for certain demographics? These are important questions to answer for getting through the pandemic. At the same time, the Left-leaning Washington Post acknowledges that the government's changing recommendations lead to confusion about booster shots. President Biden tried to push for booster shots more broadly, even though the scientific community has been divided on the topic. Last week, the FDA recommended the Pfizer booster more narrowly, i.e., for those 65-and-older, those who are immunocompromised, and those at high occupational risk (e.g., nursing homes). On the one hand, it is understandable that those with weaker immune systems would more likely need boosters. On the other hand, to try to push it on the general population when the science is unclear does not do anyone favors.  
• Federal Vaccine Mandate: In December 2020, Biden said that he would not implement a federal vaccine mandate. His administration continued to send that message that it was not the role of the federal government to implement vaccine mandates until President Biden decided to implement a mandate earlier this month.