White House press secretary says GOP governors ‘killing people’ by not helping with vaccines

Jen Psaki’s comments come as Republicans criticise White House’s ‘door-to-door’ efforts on vaccination.

White House Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki accused Republican governors of “killing people” by not providing accurate information regarding vaccines.

“The failure to provide accurate public health information including the efficacy of vaccines and the accessibility of them to people across the country including South Carolina is literally killing people,” Mrs Psaki said Friday.

Mrs Psaki’s comments came in response to a reporter asking about South Carolina Gov Henry McMaster criticising the White House’s comments about doing “door to door outreach to get Americans vaccinated.”

Mr McMaster wrote a letter to his state’s Board of Health and Environmental Control prohibiting the measures.

“Enticing, coercing, intimidating, mandating, or pressuring anyone to take the vaccine is a bad policy which will deteriorate the public’s trust and confidence in the State’s vaccination efforts,” Mr McMaster wrote in his letter.

But Mrs Psaki said the efforts would not be federal employees going door-to-door, but rather volunteers and members of the clergy.

“These are volunteers who believe that people across the country, especially in low areas should have accurate information about vaccination, should have information about where they can get vaccinated, where they can save their own lives and their neighbour's lives and their family members’ lives.”

Many states with Republican governors have low levels of vaccination, with Alabama having the lowest of any state. Conversely, Vermont’s Republican Gov Phil Scott leads a state with the highest level of vaccination.