It is a year of pandemics and deaths in the USA reaching 540,000. It turns out that Joe Biden’s biggest problem is not getting more coronavirus vaccines or solving the inoculation logistics. The challenge is to persuade hesitant Americans – including political opponents – to accept the gift paid with disease protection taxes.
What has become clear is that some combination of black Americans wary of medical malpractice, the spread of the anti-xxx movement and a healthy number of white Republican men may deny the country the “herd immunity” needed to bury concerns about the coronavirus.
We are looking at party politics once again, complete with accusations and counter-accusations threatening the very effort to get rid of the disease and continue with the business of a full and safe reopening.
It is noteworthy not only for public health purposes, but because establishing a position on American values continues to divide and confuse us.
“While there are degrees of opposition to coronavirus vaccination among various groups, including African-Americans and anti-vaccine activists, the research suggests that opinions in this case are breaking down substantially on party lines,” intends The New York Times. It points to “deep skepticism among many Republicans, an especially challenging group for him to persuade”.
What is striking here is not the relative silence of the Republican leadership in promoting vaccines and public health in the name of appearing to help Biden. Emerging data, although incomplete, show that the disease is hitting hard, particularly rural areas, which have shown stronger support for Donald Trump.
Even in the weeks after the November elections, the analysis showed that Trump gained widespread support from voters in places where COVID-19 was most rampant. An Associated Press report showed that in 376 mostly rural counties with the highest number of new cases per capita, 93% of those counties went to Trump.
Research shows opposition
We are hearing more about these lines now from focus groups, as well as public statements and further studies.
- In a CBS News poll, a third of Republicans said they would not be vaccinated – compared to 10% of Democrats. Another 20% of Republicans said they were unsure. Mistrust in the government and the speed in the development of vaccines were some of the reasons cited.
- Several conservatives are opposing disclosures that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses cell lines that started 20 years ago from fetal tissue.
- Some who have had COVID-19 think they are immune.
- A new study of understated COVID-19 deaths says the disparities in reported deaths are greater in the pro-Trump areas. Stat News, which covers health issues, says that 10s of thousands of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are not reported, especially in more rural counties that strongly supported Trump. Those areas also lagged behind in the tests, potentially masking the cause of death, said Andrew Stokes, professor of global health at the School of Public Health at Boston University who performed the analysis of the death certificates for Stat.
- A separate study, led by Stokes, of 787 counties with more than 20 deaths from COVID-19 last year, found that the deaths were not entirely attributed to the effects of the coronavirus.
The silence
Of course, there has been attention on Trump, who apparently received the vaccine in December while he was still at the White House, but who also did not speak to candidate followers to do so. In fact, there is a coincidence between those who believe in electoral fraud and those who oppose vaccines, as the QAnon conspiracy movement is making clear.
Asked about this, Biden said it would be nice to have Trump’s participation, but he would not beg the Ex-Guy, adding that the word of local doctors and clergy would be more effective. We are seeing receptivity now in the black community.
For selfish reasons, why wouldn’t Trump want to release a video telling supporters that they should get the vaccine he supposedly created (or paid for) – just to hasten the reopening?
We learned this week that one in four members of the U.S. House opted against vaccines – all Republicans and Trump supporters. It violates what I, as an employer here, want to see. Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Has been vaccinated, but spends his time attacking Biden for border issues, rather than promoting the vaccine. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Was vaccinated, but only talked about vaccines on the day of his inoculation. Texas Governor Greg Abbott made reopening his state 100% much more a priority than promoting vaccines, insisting that this is an individual decision.
The focus group
The idea that people will bitterly complain about government orders for public health protection protocols and still not take personal responsibility is difficult to understand. I have the idea of insisting on individualism, on freedom, although I believe that personal freedom has responsibility when it comes to my well-being. Is it not possible for individuals to decide to vaccinate or wear a mask without a government order?
How is it just Biden’s problem to persuade party opponents to do the right thing that exactly matches his own professed desires? Where is the Republican leadership if this is an identifiable Republican problem?
The link between Republicans and opposition to the vaccine is strong enough to lead Republican researcher Frank Luntz to assemble a focus group of Republicans who believe the threats from the coronavirus are real, but are opposed to vaccines.
The Washington Post said participants were adamant that although they or family and friends became ill, “they attributed their hesitation to factors such as the unknown long-term effects of new vaccines … They also accused government politicians and scientists of repeatedly deceiving them in the past year – often echoing Trump’s accusations that Democrats used the virus as a weapon in election year and exaggerated its dangers. “
What happened was that the political appeals to get the shot were only hardening the opposition, the Post said. “These people represent 30 million Americans. And without these people, you are not getting collective immunity,” said researcher Luntz. Still, at the end of the two-hour session, all 19 participants, including Dr. Tom Friedan, from public health, said they were more likely to be vaccinated.
In the meantime, we are seeing images of unmasked Spring Break, unmasked crowds in Texas and Florida – and high daily death rates.