Biden admin masked children based on poll data, documents reveal
Emails unearthed by America First Legal (AFL) Thursday via FOIA request reveal the Biden administration forced schoolchildren to wear masks because poll data showed it was politically popular.
On August 10, 2021, top Biden administration officials received an email from Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). KFF is a dark money organization in Washington, D.C. funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Twitter, Google, Facebook and Poynter, among others. The foundation’s board comprises executives and political operatives, including Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida and former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius who was also an architect of Obamacare.
Altman’s email was addressed to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, then-White House Vaccinations Coordinator Dr. Bechara Choucair, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, then-White House COVID-19 Response Team Senior Advisor Andy Slavitt, then-White House COVID-19 Response Team Chief Science Officer David Kessler and then-White House COVID-19 Response Team Senior Advisor Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, who was also the chairwoman of something called the COVID-19 Equity Task Force.
In the email, Altman shared select data from a KFF poll which showed that masking children was popular among Democrats.
“Hi folks, this is our Monitor Report on kids, parents and schools as promised,” began Altman. “We have the scoop on the issue of the moment, masks in schools. A very solid majority favor school masking requirements (63%), with 36% opposing. That 36% is made up of the usual suspects and of course is large enough to make some trouble in parts of the country and generate news.”
Altman went on to say that “asking unvaccinated students/staff to wear masks in school” was even “more broadly popular than vaccine mandates,” and again dismissed opposition to school mask mandates as a “political winner” only among conservatives.
“Prohibitions against schools wearing masks (which seven states now have, may only be a political winner in deep-red communities.”
Altman also recommended Surgeon General Vivek Murthy “rally pediatricians in a campaign” to get parents to inject their children, citing data that pediatricians remain the most trusted source for parents.
“And concerns about long term impacts on fertility,” continued Altman, “remain an issue to go after and can be a target as you hammer misinformation.”
Three days later, the CDC recommended universal masking for all children two and up.
But this wasn’t the first time the Biden administration crafted COVID-19 laws based on politics. In May, the CDC tightened its masking guidance after being threatened by the country’s largest teachers unions.
“America First Legal definitively exposed the Biden Administration’s collaboration with Big Tech, and now we have uncovered some of the most jarring documents on masking mandates for children to date," commented America First Legal Vice-President and General Counsel Gene Hamilton in a statement. “At the behest of the teacher unions, young children were forced to mask in schools notwithstanding the obvious and massively negative long-term developmental repercussions. Now, emails between the liberal Kaiser Family Foundation and top Biden Administration officials prove that politics, not science, was driving the government’s masking recommendations. We will not relent in our efforts to fight for the American people.”
