The New York City health commissioner called
masking children an "indefinite" prospect just one day after New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) promised angered parents he'd get rid of the mask mandates.
Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the 44th health commissioner of NYC, was speaking at a COVID-19 briefing in Queens Friday where he attempted to balance his concerns as a parent with his understanding as a doctor, CBS News reported. Without approval to vaccinate children under five years old, Vasan doesn't see another way forward.
"I think it's indefinite at this point. People who have tried to predict the future in this pandemic have had egg on their face, and I'm not going to do that today," Vasan said, suggesting that even now, with the known minimal risk faced by children, he would be unwilling to rescind the mandate.
"As a father of a two-and-a-half-year-old and two other older kids," Vasan attempted to relate, "I want to keep them as safe as possible. I would love nothing more than to send my son to daycare without a mask. But as a scientist, and as a doctor, and an epidemiologist, I want to keep him safe because he's not eligible for a vaccine."
All students in New York
over the age of five had their mask mandate lifted on March 2 and Adams had said, "If we don't have a spike, we're going to lift for your babies as well. I want them taking their mask off."