Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned Wednesday that states will need about $6 billion to distribute a coronavirus vaccine once it is approved — money that Congress has yet to provide.

Sign up for our coronavirus newsletter | Mapping the spread of the coronavirus: Across the U.S.

| Worldwide | Vaccine tracker | Where states reopened and cases spiked | Has someone close to you died of covid-19?

“When I’m governor, I would lift the mask mandate for the state,” Forest, who currently serves as lieutenant governor, said Wednesday, according to WTVD.

Forest said Wednesday that he would overturn that requirement, telling reporters, “I don’t think there’s any science that backs that up.”.

Public health experts worldwide have, in fact, concluded that masks play a critical role in stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

During a Wednesday Senate hearing, Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that consistent mask-wearing could potentially offer more protection than a vaccine.

Forest was one of several speakers at a Wednesday news conference where parents and conservative lawmakers pushed to reopen schools, but stood out as one of the few to go maskless, the News and Observer reported.

“We’re talking about an $85 billion industry that basically shut its doors down,” said Suzy Whaley, president of PGA of America, which represents more than 29,000 golf professionals in the United States and runs the PGA Championship and Ryder Cup events.

Trump administration officials released a detailed road map Wednesday of their plans to speed doses of a coronavirus vaccine into the arms of millions of Americans, as a top health official warned that Congress has yet to provide about $6 billion to help states prepare for what is expected to be the largest vaccination campaign ever undertaken.

Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a Senate panel that his agency, which is playing a lead role in vaccine distribution, does not have the crucial funding that states need for the distribution, which will take place in phases.

The CDC has about $600 million in dwindling relief money, but states urgently need additional resources, Redfield said, responding to questions from Sen.