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Arizona Republic
I'd bet the vaccine-skeptic you're listening to has been vaccinated
EJ Montini, Arizona Republic 8 hrs ago.
There is one reason, and one reason only, why the Phoenix Suns Arena can
be packed with fans for the NBA Finals and it’s not Devin Booker or
Chris Paul or Deandre Ayton.
It’s vaccines.
Covid-19 vaccines are why you can go to a restaurant. Have a drink at a
bar. Wander around a department store. Go to the public library. The
zoo. To school, to the office, to church.
To a basketball game.
And yet there are politicians and right-wing media personalities who
seem bent on spreading fear and distrust about the vaccines, and who’ve
contorted what should be only an issue of public health into a
dangerously twisted political argument about “freedom.”
Unvaccinated nearly 100% of deaths
My guess is that just about all the individuals making those arguments –
convincing Americans to put off vaccinations -- have been vaccinated.
And it’s costing lives.
These days, nearly 100 percent of the COVID-19 deaths are people who
have not been vaccinated. And with the spread of the more contagious
Delta variant, the numbers could get much worse.
If you look closely at those statistics, you see that the people most at
risk these days are conservative Republicans, Trump Republicans, many
made wary by leadership that cares more about politics than people.
Some of the most recent surveys say that eight in 10 Democrats have had
at least one dose of a vaccine, while only 50 percent of Republicans
have done so.
The reason is fairly obvious.
Outlets like Fox News have from the beginning played down the severity
of the coronavirus.
Trump could be of service, but...
Former President Donald Trump got the dangerous fantasy started as far
back as January of 2020, saying, “We have it totally under control. It’s
one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to
be just fine.”
Now we have politicians and right-wing pundits raising doubts about the
vaccines and promoting lunatic conspiracy theories, as if promoting a
vaccination against a virus that has killed more than 600,000 Americans
is somehow a power grab by Democrats instead of a simple life-saving
inoculation.
But how many of those vaccine skeptics, or those who play down the
dangers of COVID-19, have been vaccinated?
Trump and his wife, Melania, very quietly had vaccines administered
before he left office. So, too, did Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox
News, whose hosts are among the most vocal vaccine skeptics.
Trump could do wonders if he made a big public push for people to get
vaccinated. But that doesn’t work for his politics. Trump feeds on
spreading distrust of the very government he still wants to lead. The
same is true of politicians and media personalities who cling to his
coattails, preaching “freedom” instead of public health, while almost
all of them are vaccinated.
Freedom?
It’s like someone safely in a boat, wearing a life jacket, telling a
person flailing about in the ocean that he has the “freedom” to drown.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: I'd bet the
vaccine-skeptic you're listening to has been vaccinated.