CDC’s Walensky corrects Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s COVID-19 claim

CDC chief Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Sunday was forced to correct US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dramatically inflated claim that there are 100,000 pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations.

In an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” Walensky was pressed to confirm that there are actually fewer than 3,500 kids with the virus in hospitals.

“Yeah,” Walensky replied, cutting down the justice’s wrong assertion Friday.

“But, you know, here’s what I can tell you about our pediatric hospitalizations now,” continued the head of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“First of all, the vast majority of children who are in the hospital are unvaccinated, and for those children who are not eligible for vaccination, we do know they are most likely to get sick with COVID if their family members aren’t vaccinated,” she said, pushing the Biden administration’s mantra that the unvaxxed are fueling the continued pandemic.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky was forced to correct Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor’s claim that 100,000 kids were in the hospitals with COVID-19 when the number was actually fewer than 3,500.Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dramatically and wrongly claimed that there are 100,000 pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations.AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File

Sotomayor made her overinflated hospital claim during oral arguments in a case involving the White House’s vaccine mandate for private businesses with at least 100 employees.

“We have over 100,000 children, which we’ve never had before, in serious condition and many on ventilators,” the justice said.

In his interview with Walensky on Sunday, Fox News anchor Brett Baier grilled the CDC chief about whether she felt any responsibility to set the record straight on the exaggerated numbers.

Justice Sonya Sotomayor made her overinflated hospital claim during oral arguments in a case involving the White House’s vaccine mandate for private businesses with at least 100 employees.Shutterstock / LOOKSLIKEPHOTO.CO

“And do you feel responsibility as the CDC director to correct a very big mischaracterization by one of the Supreme Court justices?” he asked.

“Yeah, here’s what I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you that, right now, 17 — if you’re unvaccinated, you’re 17 times more likely to be in the hospital and 20 times more likely to die than if you’re boosted,” Walensky said.

“And so, what my responsibility is, is to provide guidance and recommendations to protect the American people. Those recommendations strongly recommend vaccination for our children above the age of 5 and boosting for everyone above the age of 18 if they’re eligible.”

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