Tapper specifically called out President Donald Trump’s campaign rallies — where participants have not been required to wear masks or social distance — and asked Giroir if that’s the example the administration wants to set.

“Biology is independent of politics,” Giroir said. “If you cannot physically distance, all the docs, all the public health experts, all of us are really unanimous that it’s important to wear a mask when you cannot physically distance.”

“We have new treatments that if you do get ill, you are much more likely to have a great outcome,” he added. “But right now, prevention is certainly the most important step — wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, especially indoor spaces.”

Giroir also commented on Trump’s promise that there will be enough vaccines for every American by April, which was at odds with statements from some health officials.

“I think there’s been a lot of misunderstanding here,” Giroir said. “I think everybody is right, but they’re talking about different aspects. In front of the Senate, [CDC Director Robert] Redfield and I both said that a vaccine that would be widely available in hundreds of millions of doses would not likely happen until mid-2021. President Trump said that some projections, according to manufacturing if things go as planned, could have as many as 100 million doses by the end of this year. That is correct.”

Giroir explained that if the country can provide even a few million doses by the end of this year, and vaccinate even a small percentage of the population, “we can get 80 or 90 percent of the benefit.” He specifically highlighted next steps like vaccinating workers in nursing homes, teachers and those with preexisting conditions, which he said would have “an enormous impact on mortalities.”

And with the school year officially underway, there are a lot of questions about testing and safely reopening schools.

“I want to be clear that testing every student every week is not necessary to bring children back to school,” Giroir said. “And in fact, almost no state has that in their plan. It’s very important if a child gets sick, to test them, to contact trace around that and to perhaps to some baseline surveillance testing. We do have that kind of testing available.”

The most important thing schools can do, Giroir added, is “reduce the community spread” by encouraging mask-wearing and physical distancing in schools, and relying on smart testing rather than testing every single student.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar echoed Giroir's remarks, speaking on NBC‘s "Meet the Press."

“We’ve seen incredible progress thanks to the vigilance of the American people," he said. "They responded to that call to practice the three Ws — wash your hands, watch your distance, wear your face coverings. We’ve seen an almost 50 percent decline in cases, 50 percent decline in hospitalizations and an even greater decline in fatalities since the high point.”

But Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb noted that one of the biggest threats to the country’s progress is complacency.

“We’re seeing infections go up around the country,” Gottlieb said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “The Northeast is still holding on to the gains it achieved in driving down infections, but we’re seeing infections starting to rise in the South as well and we’re definitely seeing a concentration of new infections in the Midwest.”

He explained that he worries people becoming complacent because “we are exhausted, as a population.” With students heading back to school, people beginning to return to work, and people spend more time in close indoor quarters throughout the fall and winter, “this is a real setup for risk.”

He also noted that not enough people have been exposed for us to rely on herd immunity and while the spread of the virus may have slowed in certain parts of the country, it’s on the rise elsewhere.

“It’s an indication that there is a lot of virus left to go in this country,” Gottlieb said.