BAIER: Now, what we can find from Friday suggests there are fewer than 3,500 current pediatric hospitalizations from COVID-19. Is that true?
WALENSKY: Yeah. But, you know, here's what I can tell you about our pediatric hospitalizations now. First of all, the vast majority of children who are in the hospital are unvaccinated ...
BAIER: Understood, but the number is not 100,000. It's roughly 3,500 in hospitals now.
WALENSKY: It -- yes, there are -- there are -- and in fact what I will say is, while pediatric hospitalizations are rising, there are still about 15-fold least [less?] than hospitalizations of our older age demographics.
BAIER: Do you have a number of children on ventilators?
WALENSKY: I do not have that off the top of my head, but what I can say is for it -- I don't believe there are any in many of these hospitals who are vaccinated. So, really, the highest risk of being on a ventilator if your child is if you're unvaccinated [sic]. ...
BAIER: ... I guess what I’m getting at in this opening is that the Supreme Court is in the process of dealing with this big issue about mandates. And do you feel responsibility as the CDC director to correct a very big mischaracterization by one of the Supreme Court justices?
WALENSKY: 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. ...
Q: Are 100,000 children really hospitalized for COVID-19?
A: Mostly unvaccinated ones.
