The Biden administration is frustrated that more Americans aren’t getting vaccinated. I wonder why this could be?
Let’s see, the Biden administration, the press, and the Democrats (the professional ones, mind you) spent the better part of 2020 telling Americans they couldn’t trust Donald Trump, especially when it came to the virus. VP Harris, when she was still a candidate, famously said she wouldn’t take the vaccine if it were administered by the Trump administration.
Now, these same people who sowed deep mistrust of Trump expect all of us to forget those dire warnings and trust that the vaccine created by his administration MUST BE TAKEN.
These same folks also spent the better part of 2020 and 2021 telling African-Americans that their country was systemically racist, root to branch, that the institutions of this country sought to harm black people in various and myriad ways. They pointed the finger vaguely at all white people and the “institutions,” but especially at mean-old Republicans and conservatives.
Now, those same people expect African-Americans and other ostensible victims of the systemically racist institutions of this country to trust the government when it says to take the vaccine?
To me, therefore, it’s logical if unfortunate that various groups would in fact not trust this government, or this president, when the entire basis of their admonition to take the vaccine is predicated on trusting them.
Why would we trust a vaccine created by the most evil man in the history of the world? Why would we trust a vaccine created by the most racist country in the history of the world? Why would we trust a government who will not accept ANY RESPONSIBILITY for sowing confusion and doubt about Covid-19, its origins, and potentially effective treatments?
There’s little doubt for nearly every demographic in our country there’s decent reason to regard our current government with suspicion, except for those unfortunate souls who blindly trust Democratic politicians who lie, contradict, and calumniate without any repercussions from a press who slavishly toes the company line, no matter the degree of inconsistency and illogic that come from their political allies.
I took the vaccine because the real conspiracy is not the vaccine (I hope!), but the decisions made by our government and China’s that led to the release of this deadly virus.
But until our government can clear the air, admit that it’s been wrong, made mistakes, and generally used the virus for political advantage, I won’t be surprised if various groups say to them, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
When you sow distrust and cynicism in our country and its institutions, this is what you reap.
Trey Hoffman
Peachtree City, Ga.
If I understand Trey’s intention, he means to say the people who refuse the vaccine do so because, during the Trump administration, Democrats convinced them not to trust the government.
But if I understand the numbers correctly, Democrats are being vaccinated in much higher numbers than Republicans, so this argument doesn’t make sense, does it? Did Republicans believe nothing Democrats tried to convince them of except this one thing, don’t trust the government?
Because, you know, it seems like the people who still trust Donald Trump (the “government” the Democrats told them not to trust?) are the ones who aren’t getting vaccinated…So how are Democrats to blame for this?
Maybe I misunderstood Trey’s argument; it happens a lot!
Attribution error coupled with a failure of imagination from lazy journalists.
Vaccination rates are higher in urban areas where ready access to healthcare facilities is easier to come buy. They’re lower in rural areas where there are substantially fewer opportunities. Urban tends to lean blue while rural tends to lean red. But if you control for the multivariate nature of the analysis, it has nothing to do with partisanship, and everything to do with rural individuals perceiving much less risk for not getting vaccinated and much higher cost in getting vaccinated.
In other words, if you calculate a linear regression with % vaccinated and population density, you get a strong positive correlation. If you calculate a logit regression with % vaccinated and Trump/Biden, you get a very low positive correlation.
Interesting assertions. Do you have any data to substantiate these regression equations? I hope the unvaccinated rate is a function of availability rather than ideology.
You can get vax rates by state from the CDC. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes Statewide Pop Density averages. I would offer to post the R-file here if I could. But honestly, I question why should we accept the original assertion from Trey above or the contra-assertion by Jax that partisan sentiment is even a key driver of vaccination rates to begin with? I know plenty of righties who rushed to get the vaccine because they trusted it to be safe and wanted to do their part to stamp out COVID. I also knew plenty of lefties who are not about to take an experimental vaccine based on unproven technology being pushed by big pharma and the government. Everyone wants to pretend that they can predict exactly how a person is going to act based on their political affiliation or some singular extrinsic characteristic. And the people who do that are usually wrong.
No one is pretending we can predict what someone does based on “some singular extrinsic characteristic.” I was referring to polls of unvaccinated people talking about whether or not they will get vaccinated. The Kaiser Family Foundation Poll found that Republican men were more vaccine-hesitant, and Gallup also reported, “Republicans are much less likely to report getting or intending to get the vaccine than independents and Democrats.” This isn’t based on people being in a particular geographic region; it’s based on what people themselves say about their plans to get or not get the vaccine. You can’t say the being a Republican causes you to be more vaccine-hesitant, but you can see Republicans are more vaccine-hesitant — and you certainly can’t say, as Trey does, that the vaccine-hesitant are hesitant because they have been told by Democrats not to trust the government, because Democrats are the ones more likely to be vaccinated.
If a facepalm was a person.
I have been doing my best to follow this discussion, starting with Trey’s assertions that a mistrust of the government is the root of the resistance to COVID vaccines. He somehow blames this on the Democrats.
I understand the logic of
VJax’s response–simply put, that Trey’s accusation
makes no sense largely because according to polls
white Republican males are the most hesitant to be vaccinated. I too have heard these reports. Jax was not accusing Republicans; she was defending the Democrats.
I’ll admit I got a bit lost in your jargon, PTCitizen; but
aren’t you also saying Trey
is incorrect? That politics are inconsequential to this health issue? Again, a defense of the party Trey maligned. The Democrats.
So why the snarky facepalm comment, PTC?
VJax (and others) are well
spoken and good-natured;
as I’ve said before, I learn
something from almost all of them. Until you insist
on bringing things to an abrupt stop with an insulting benediction.
(I’ll spare you the Father
Rohr reference!).
Hey thanks Suz! I thought I was making sense, too!
Sometimes I think when PTCitizen can’t rebut an argument with logic, s/he falls back on the snarky comment, like the face palm. I think when we get to that point, it’s fair to say, we were right and s/he ran out of arguments.
Attribution error is not logic. You’re just doing exactly what you accuse Trey of, but in the opposite direction.
The KFF has no such poll as the one you cite saying “Republican men were more vaccine-hesitant”. Their polls actually show that white males are one of the most vaccinated groups both overall and in-group.
I haven’t run out of arguments. Just patience with cognitive laziness.
PTCitizen–
I would say, “Yet another zinger!”
but for you, “cognitive laziness”
is flirtation!
The New York Times published a very informative article about the unvaccinated last Saturday. Both Jax and PTCitizen – Andy make points discussed in the article.
Another peevish missive from the hyper-partisan, third incarnation of his grandfather’s namesake. Rounding up the usual suspects, Trey indicts those ignoble democrats for vaccine skepticism and absolves his orange god of any culpability for engendering mistrust in the federal government despite four long years of prevarications and inconsistencies.
Among his factual errors are that V.P. Harris said she would refuse to take a Trump administration vaccine. In truth, she said that she wouldn’t take a vaccine on the word of Mr. Trump unless it was certified as efficacious by the scientific community. Trey persists in portraying the main stream media as a monolithic press corps incapable of criticizing the 46th President because of ideological predilections. This is patently false. Assuming the New York Times and Washington Post are part of this progressive ideological cabal, both frequently criticize Mr. Biden in both news articles as well as their opinion essays. Alas, our reliable Fourth Estate gives no one a pass.
I do concur with Mr. Hoffman that despite the 45th president’s many idiotic statements about the course and treatment of COVID – 19, his administration was quite instrumental in speeding the mRNA vaccine’s development. Mr. Trump could still provide a noble contribution to his country if he would boldly and often promote the great value of the coronavirus vaccine to those poor souls still in his grip. If he touted it as the Trump vaccine, he could save many lives. Perhaps he is awaiting a branding commission. It would be well worth the cost!
Her exact words were “If the public health professionals, if Dr. Fauci, if the doctors tell us that we should take it, I’ll be the first in line to take it, absolutely. But if Donald Trump tells us that we should take it, I’m not taking it,”
Thank you for providing the exact quote. I penned my reply relying on my very fallible memory.
Trey Hoffman has me DYING from laughter. I imagine this snowflake sitting in his mother’s basement with his tin foil hat. Let me paraphrase the best part in a more straightforward manner. “Trump got this vaccine out, and now the democrats are at fault for all this misinformation! By the way, white people ARE NOT RACIST, and America IS NOT RACIST!” What. A. Nut.
Well you definitely missed the point…
I think the vaccine is safe for some people..and not safe for others.
My sister in law died 10 days after receiving the 2nd dose. She has had high blood pressure all her life, on a low dose of medication…but its never been an issue or determent. There are numerous news articles of people receiving the vaccine and having neurological, seizure, heart and nerve complications (one woman recently had both legs amputated and possibly hands within days of getting the vaccine). There are over 2000 of these cases in the U.S. Now, I think a lot of these cases are due to people having pre existing conditions and the vaccine somehow escalates those conditions (cytokine storm). For others, it might not be an issues. Point is..we do not know. And we do not know if the vaccine actually worsens conditions if someone catches the actual virus. The variant virus happens with all viruses..even the flu. Its not more deadly…but it does spread more easily (like flu variants). To tackle this (like we should of done last year), is to quarantine those most vulnerable, stay outdoors as much as possible, wear a mask if that makes you feel good, takes precautions as you do in flu season…but let the healthy people stay at work, don’t shut down business. It didn’t work before and its not going to work again (shutting business down).
In the late 70’s there was a push by the government for everyone to take a fast tracked swine flu vaccine. It did not go so well after 94 people reported paralysis. Because of these 94 people, the government shut it down.
But yet we have over 2000 people reporting problems with this vaccine, and the government and companies will start requiring everyone to take it.