‘Vaccinated vs. unvaccinated’ becomes the Left’s mantra as ‘black vs. white’ gets overdone
I will start off by saying this – I do believe ALL people over the age of 21 should be vaccinated against COVID 19, particularly those who are obese, elderly, and who have underlying health conditions like asthma, heart disease and cancer.
I have covered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a reporter since 1986 and learned that NO drug, NO device, NO vaccine is PERFECTLY SAFE, nor EFFECTIVE, nor do we know the long-term impacts when these products are approved. FDA doesn’t “approve of” the drug or device; it “approves” the company’s application, which is based on data the company provides to the reviewers.
Indeed, the three COVID vaccines in circulation now were not formally licensed by the agency’s Center for Biologics, but were put on the market through “emergency use authorizations.”
However, the adverse experience data, thus far, shows the number of side effects to the vaccine are infinitesimal, and I believe FDA would do a lot of good to dissuade the bad information out there by licensing the shots right now in approximately 2 to 5 people per million.
That being said, I will also say, that vaccines and masks should NOT be mandatory for children and college students, who have a low risk of contracting COVID and serious symptoms.
But what irks me the most is this Leftist media/Democrat spin effort to insinuate that the “unvaccinated” (i.e., the Unwashed ) are due primarily because Trump supports and Republicans are refusing to be vaccinated or wear masks. In my view, this is the marginalization of what appears to be lower educated blue-collar people, regardless of race.
On July 6, the Kaiser Family Foundation survey released an article which showed, that based on hospitalization data there was a higher degree of unvaccinated in Red States vs. Blue states. The survey says Democrats had an 86 percent vaccination rate versus a 52 percent rate for Republicans
This was followed by data showing 99% of hospitalizations for COVID were people who were not vaccinated and panic over the Delta variant, which according to this article in the American Society of Microbiology is 40 to 60 percent more transmissible “but symptoms of Delta tend to be a little different than other strains [and] that does not necessarily mean the associated symptoms are more severe.”
As a consequence of the two studies, liberal elites (specifically, the media) are bashing Trumpsters and Republicans for being the prime cause of the Delta variant spread and continuing COVID pandemic.
Some examples of headlines from Brookings The Guardian McClatchy and Mother Jones . The outcry even led Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to lead
A Pro-Vaccination Push to Change The Minds Of Unvaccinated Americans
But on July 21, KFF reported a survey that got much less media exposure – that a huge number of the unvaccinated are black and Latino, and what we know about this group, they are more than 80% Democrat.
Kaiser reports “…Black and Hispanic people have received smaller shares of vaccinations compared to their shares of cases and compared to their shares of the total population in most states. The share of vaccinations received by Black people also continues to be smaller than their share of deaths in most states, although in some states it is similar to the share of deaths. The share of vaccinations received by Hispanic people is similar to or higher than their share of deaths in most reporting states, although in some states.”
KFF reports CDC only has race/ethnicity for 58% of people who had received at least one dose of the vaccine. So, here’s the racial breakdown:
Whites –59% vaccinated (i.e., non-Hispanic whites)
Blacks — 9%
Latinos — 15.6%
Asians — 6%
American Indian/Alaska native — <1%
Other Pacific Islander — 8%
The New York Post also reports that in New York City, which had the highest COVID prevalence and death rates at one time, only 60% of residents have gotten at least one dose, including 35% of blacks and 47% of Hispanics. Some 26% of New Yorkers are black and 26% Latino, which means about 3 million New Yorkers are unvaccinated!
New York is a blue state, isn’t it? Why no media/political exposure on this stat? Why no “vax shaming” of blacks and Latinos for not getting the jab?
What’s worse, KFF did not provide any reasons for why blacks and Latinos rank so badly in getting COVID vaccines. So, I will provide some reasons – education and income, which leads less-educated, less-affluent people to be susceptible to misinformation and to not focus much about their health. Blacks, Latinos and lower income whites have– higher rates of heart disease, respiratory illnesses and cancer all of these “underlying health conditions” put them at high risk for COVID 19, including the Delta variant. This, despite the Obamacare Medicaid expansion.
In March, CDC reported 78% of COVID hospitalized patients were obese. Obesity has been a significant problem with COVID, yet neither the Trump nor Biden health care bureaucrats bothered to do much to get this under control, as Kerry Dougherty reported here last week.
But politics and religion are fair game for criticism and marginalizing, and to bash Republicans and Republican governors who oppose mask and vaccine mandates for the rise in COVID 19 cases.
And it’s coupled with the Pelosi Commission hearings on the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill assault, to imply the 575 arrested are “representative” of all Trumpsters and Republicans (none charged with treason or sedition, by the way).
This comes at a time when there is a significant backlash against “critical race theory” and “cancel culture” .
Thus, an African American conservative friend observed the other day on Facebook: “The Blk vs Wht scenario isn’t working very well anymore. Now, they are creating vaccinated vs. unvaccinated. Elite games.”
It’s more “elite strategy” vs. games to keep Democrats in power.. Will the “unvaccinated” soon be required to wear yellow badges like the Nazis made Jews wear to identify them in the years prior to and during WWI?
Will Hollywood start to do movies about “Deplorables” along the lines of “The Eternal Jew,” which Hitler mandated be filmed to gin up anti-Semitism among the German populace? Is the “Eternal Deplorable” the next film by Michael Moore?
The Left’s never ending quest to scapegoat Trump backers and conservatives should galvanize all good conservatives to get involved in this Virginia campaign and work like hell to throw out the elitist snob Democrats who have overtaken Richmond and DC.
