Anthony Scaramucci, founder and co-managing director of SkyBridge, told CNBC on Friday that he had commissioned Covid recordings in his hedge fund’s office.
He also urged all eligible Americans to get vaccinated.
“We are a private company. If someone wants to argue with me about the vaccine mandate, that’s fine. Let’s take it to court, ”said Scaramucci in“ Squawk Box ”and begged other companies to follow suit.
“Make a decision. You’re a private company. Let’s shut it out. We need to keep people safe. Get vaccinated. If you don’t want to get vaccinated, go. That should be the message, and that People will start getting you vaccinated. “
Scaramucci’s comments come at a critical time in the coronavirus pandemic as the US sees a spike in new infections related to the highly communicable Delta variant and health officials scramble to combat reluctance and resistance to Covid vaccines.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 49% of the US population are fully vaccinated and 56.4% have received at least one dose of vaccine. Most of the people in the country who received injections received vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna that require two doses. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine requires a shot. These are the only three approved for emergency use in the United States
However, vaccination rates have slowed significantly since mid-April, when the seven-day average of daily doses administered exceeded 3.4 million. On July 17, the weekly average of the administered daily doses was just under 450,000 according to CDC data.
Scaramucci, who briefly served as White House communications director in the Trump administration, tried to push back various conspiracy theories about the Covid vaccines. He stressed that they are safe and effective in preventing serious illness and death, and has been shown to reduce the transmission of the virus.
“I don’t have a microchip in my body. It has not genetically modified my cells. It protects me from the worst pandemic in the last 100 years and enables our economy to open up,” said Scaramucci, who also sees it as his responsibility as a father from children who are not yet eligible for the vaccine. “When you have young children … vaccinate yourself to protect your children.”
Scaramucci acknowledged that some people might be suspicious of government and large institutions, but he said the science of vaccination is clear. The more Americans get vaccinated, the better for the whole country, he said.
“I don’t like totalitarian nonsense. That’s not the point. It’s about the fact that we have to unite as a society from time to time to protect each other,” said Scaramucci. “If we all get vaccinated, we will be in society faster and the economy will grow faster and there will be more jobs and more incomes.”
Companies requiring their employees to be vaccinated have been a controversial issue throughout the pandemic, in part because the Food and Drug Administration only issued emergency clearances for the three vaccines.
Former FDA chief and Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb told Squawk Box that he expects companies and organizations to take a more binding position on vaccination regulations once full regulatory approval is obtained.
“Hopefully when we go into the fall and winter the vaccines will get full approval … I think you will see more mandates come in. Surely, in the healthcare sector, you start to see” this is becoming commonplace, “he said .
“The business wants to start again. People want to resume activities, and to the extent that the vaccines provide an extra measure to do it safely and protect places where you bring people together, I think we will have more sports teams and more business premises see and start prescribing vaccinations. ”
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC employee and a member of the board of directors of Pfizer, genetic testing startup Tempus, health technology company Aetion Inc., and biotechnology company Illumina. He is also co-chair of the Healthy Sail Panel of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean.
