Yes. Yes we are. Nobody wants to put up with plague rats. Is Vaxed America Running Out of Patience? https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/is-vaxed-america-running-out-of-patience I wanted to share some thoughts and snippets of news following up on the GOP vaccine switcheroo. But first I wanted to share this LA Times article that helped me think more broadly about the issue. Reporter Brittny Mejia went to a pop-up vaccine clinic in LA to talk to people who were finally getting vaccinated after waiting months into their eligibility. The people who turned out at this clinic were mainly Latino immigrants, so not the demographic that has garnered the most attention in the mainstream media discussion. The reasons ranged the gamut: they’d had COVID and assumed continued immunity; they didn’t want to or couldn’t take time from work; they had general apprehensions about a vaccine without a long testing history; they’d heard conspiracy theories women becoming infertile. In some cases, it was perhaps some vague mix of one or more of these and just continuing to put it off – apathy for lack of a better word. What jumped out to me is that basically none of the couple dozen people who showed up the day Mejia was there had held out for any ideological or political reasons. And in most cases – as their being there to get their shot makes clear – they were ultimately convincible. Many people who have heard stories of alarming side effects can be convinced by actual data or reassurance from people in their community they trust. We can make policy decisions that make it easier on people who don’t feel free to miss a day or more of work. These are anecdotes but they remind us that the challenge is not only stereotypical Trumpers refusing for reasons tied to political commitment and ideology. But I think CNN’s Brian Stelter captured the moment in this snippet when he said that last week was the week that vaccinated America started to get fed up. That’s what’s driving the GOP vaccine switcheroo. What comes through when you look at demographic data is that minority communities tend to be more vaccine hesitant than vaccine resistant. It’s among white Republicans you see more affirmative resistance. And that’s not budging. In late Spring it seemed like COVID was basically about over. Critically, it seemed like the non-vaccinated might be able to hitch a ride on the rest of the country’s vaccinated immunity. Everyone could drop their masks and get back into restaurants and theaters and it would all be fine. Clearly that didn’t pan out. One of the most hopeful signs in the last week is that that fact is leading a lot of people to go get vaccinated. After months of declines, the number of vaccinations is starting to rise again. But among the vaccinated there’s a growing realization that we’re going backwards, seeing rates go up, seeing some mask mandates come back because of the non-vaccinated. And people are getting frustrated. That is a big part of why you’re seeing Republicans not simply encouraging people to get vaccinated but even more trying to ditch the vaccine-resistant brand. They’re feeling exposed to shifting public opinion. In short, they don’t want to be accountable for what they’ve done. To understand the politics, we need to take a different look at the numbers. We’re used to hearing the rather disappointing fact that even months into the vaccination drive and with surplus vaccines everywhere only just under half (49.1%) the US population is vaccinated. Epidemiologically, that’s bad news. But it looks different from an electoral perspective. 60% of adults (over 18) are vaccinated and fully 69% have received at least one dose. Shift our perspective in this way and you see that when you’re talking about the political nation, a big, verging on overwhelming majority are vaccinated. Among people over 65, the group that votes most consistently, 80% are vaccinated. Furthermore there is a lot of evidence that vaccination rates escalate with age. People in their forties are substantially more vaccinated than people in their twenties. So higher rates of vaccination align with propensity to vote. If you’re vaccinated and are starting to wear a mask again at the grocery store or seeing reports that mask mandates may come back you know who is driving this: the voluntarily unvaccinated. It’s literally true. If 100% of the population over 12 was vaccinated none of this would be happening. Yes, there are breakthrough infections among the vaccinated – and more than we’d like to see. But that’s spill over from the unvaccinated community among whom Delta COVID is spreading like wildfire. Most elected Republicans haven’t been explicitly anti-vaccination. Indeed, even before the last couple weeks many have made low volume statements saying they’ve been vaccinated and encouraging others to do so. But they’ve almost all participated in the effort to make vaccine resistance into a kind of freedom movement – banning government or private businesses from using vaccine passports, banning mask mandates, politicizing debates over school reopenings. As a party they’ve leaned into valorizing vaccine resistance and banning any private or governmental efforts to place the burden of the consequences of non-vaccination on those who choose not to be vaccinated. They thought that would supercharge their already happy prospects for 2022 by riding an anti-vax or anti-vax mandate wave. And now they’re thinking they may have miscalculated.
If I did, they probably wouldn't be unhinged enough to claim not wearing a mask was the same as putting a gun to someone's head and pulling the trigger.
Ask how many of their fellow healthcare workers and their family members were hospitalized or died... then listen to what they have to say about anti-maskers. You may want to continue pushing your incredible ignorance downplaying COVID -- however healthcare workers who faced it daily in COVID wards know your assertions are nonsense.
What assertion is nonsense? That putting a gun to someone's head and pulling the trigger is infinitely more deadly than not wearing a mask? That claiming it is the same thing is pure hysteria? Most people would just have said "Look, I was trying to make a point and I went with hyperbole. Obviously its not the same thing." and that would have been the end of it. But not GWB. He has to double, triple even quadruple down on stupid because he'll never admit being in error. Despite constantly being in error. You're such a tool.
First let me make it clear the "hyperbole" about "anti-maskers not being any different to putting a gun to someone's head and pulling the trigger" was taken directly from a healthcare worker who works in a COVID ward of a hospital. Now that it is a year later -- and many of these healthcare workers have endured the deaths and hospitalizations of their family members due to unchecked COVID -- this earlier "hyperbole" is mild compared to what they say now about anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers now. Statistically over the past year healthcare workers were much more likely to lose a family member to COVID than to being shot -- so this "hyperbole" about the poor behavior of individuals that allowed COVID to spread as a public health crisis and injure their families is spot on.
First time you ever attributed the stupid comment to someone else. That's a new one. I suspect you finally realize (or are trying to admit) how asinine the comment was and are now doing your best to back pedal. I guess I'll take that victory, as it is as close as I'll ever get to seeing you say something like "my bad". People around here who say you can't admit being wrong aren't completely correct. You can see the light, it just takes 12-18 months and having the point hammered into your stone head over and over.
Son of COVID conspiracy theorist says mom should be prosecuted https://nypost.com/2021/07/26/son-of-covid-conspiracy-theorist-says-mom-should-be-prosecuted/https://nypost.com/2021/07/26/son-of-covid-conspiracy-theorist-says-mom-should-be-prosecuted/