The US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky has said that the Federal government is "not counting on vaccine mandates at all" to stem the coronavirus pandemic.

"It may very well be that local businesses, local jurisdictions will work towards vaccine mandates. That is going to be locally driven and not federally driven,” Walensky said on Sunday in a segment of NBC's Meet the Press.

“We are asking people to be honest with themselves, if they’re vaccinated and they are not wearing a mask, they are safe," she said. "If they are not vaccinated and they are not wearing a mask, they are not safe.”

Walensky added that "the most important" thing businesses could do at present is allowing employees to get their shots.

“And what we’re asking businesses to do, probably the most important thing that businesses could do right now is to work to ensure that it’s easy for their own employees to get vaccinated and to give them the time they need so they can make those appointments and get themselves vaccinated, so people in those businesses are safe," she added.