Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Psaki demolishes Doocy with stats as he tries to claim Covid now an illness of the vaccinated

White House press secretary pointed out much higher death rates for unvaccinated Americans

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles
Tuesday 11 January 2022 06:14 GMT
Comments
Psaki demolishes Fox News reporter with stats on how Covid vaccines work

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Jen Psaki clashed with a Fox News reporter when he questioned why Joe Biden still referred to Covid-19 as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”.

The White House press secretary pounded Pete Doocy with virus statistics after he highlighted the large number of vaccinated Americans suffering breakthrough infections.

It was Mr Doocy’s first press briefing back after he suffered a breakthrough infection himself.

“I understand that the science says that vaccines prevent death,” said Mr Doocy.

“But I’m triple-vaxxed, still got Covid. You’re triple-vaxxed, still got Covid. Why is the president still referring to this as a pandemic of the unvaccinated?”

Ms Psaki reminded Mr Doocy that she had only suffered “minor symptoms” after getting Covid-19 following vaccination.

“There is a huge difference between that and being unvaccinated,” she said bluntly.

“You are 17 times more likely to go to the hospital if you’re not vaccinated, 20 times more likely to die.

“So yes, the impact for people who are unvaccinated is far more dire than for those who are vaccinated.”

Mr Doocy’s questioning of Ms Psaki came just days after his own father, Steve Doocy of Fox & Friends, explained he viewed the vaccine like a bullet-proof vest.

He said on Fox News that while the vest may not “stop a bullet” from hitting the person wearing it, “it won’t let the bullet kill you.”

The United States has now seen more than 60.2m Covid cases during the pandemic, and 836,000 deaths.

With the Omicron variant still surging in the US, the daily average of Covid-19 hospitalisations for the week ending January 4 was 16,458, says the CDC.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in