Mitch McConnell admits to being “perplexed.”
Let’s see if we can straighten things out for him.
The Senate Republican leader from Louisville doesn’t understand why the number of people getting vaccinated against COVID-19, a disease that has claimed the lives of more than 600,000 Americans over the past 17 months, has hit a lull, contributing mightily to a hike in the number of cases nationwide.
“I’m perplexed by the reluctance of some to get vaccinated, totally perplexed,” McConnell told reporters last week.
“We need to keep preaching that getting the vaccine is important,” McConnell said. “We need to finish the job. Part of it is just convincing the American people of the importance of doing this. Everyone who knows the subject says that if you get the disease, chances are pretty good you’re not going to die from it if you get vaccinated.”
The NKyTribune’s Washington columnist Bill Straub served 11 years as the Frankfort Bureau chief for The Kentucky Post. He also is the former White House/political correspondent for Scripps Howard News Service. A member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, he currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, and writes frequently about the federal government and politics. Email him at williamgstraub@gmail.comAs of July 8, according to the Centers for Disease Control, 183.2 million people have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 158.3 million, or 47.7 percent of the adult population, are fully vaccinated.
But the number of instances is on the rise. Data issued by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore shows that confirmed COVID infections doubled over the space of three weeks, from an average of about 11,300 on June 23 to 23,600 by July 12. Only two states — Maine and South Dakota — showed a drop.
Almost all of those contracting the disease over that period, data established, were unvaccinated.
After eight consecutive weeks of decreasing cases, Kentucky witnessed its totals jump, from 1,199 during the period June 20-26 to 1,321 the following week.
“The highly transmissible B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant continues to spread across the United States at a rapid pace” according to the CDC. “Early data suggest that B.1.617.2 now makes up more than 50% of COVID-19 cases. In some parts of the country, this percentage is even higher, especially in areas with low vaccination rates. This rapid rise is concerning and threatens the progress the United States has made toward ending the pandemic.”
The problem, obviously, is the number of folks who simply refuse to get vaccinated. The most substantial incidence increase has come in states with low rates, like Mississippi, where only about 30 percent of the population has taken their shots.
Despite the growing case numbers, it doesn’t appear those left unprotected are rushing to the nearest clinic to get the stab. The New York Times is reporting that providers are administering about 0.53 million doses per day on average, about an 84 percent decrease from the peak of 3.38 million reported on April 13.
President Joe Biden set a goal of having 70 percent of adults in the United States vaccinated with at least one shot by July 4. The nation fell short of the mark.
McConnell, understandably, is at wits end trying to understand the reluctance. It merits special attention that the lawmaker has been up front and vocal in the effort to get as many people vaccinated as possible. As a polio victim in his youth, McConnell obviously understands the benefits of inoculation and is willfully spreading the gospel.
Good for him. Sincerely. But still, why the growing public aversion?
Tell you what, let’s ask Mitch’s fellow Kentuckian, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green, who always provides jaw-dropping insight, about what he would do to convince people to get the COVID-19 vaccine:
“We don’t really need people who believe in some sort of elitism to tell us what to do,” Paul said during a luncheon presentation in Greensburg last month. “I think we’ve got pretty good sense.”
“In a free society, we make these decisions individually,” he said.
Okay then.
How about our old pal, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-SomewhereorotherLewisCounty, who, like Paul has already contracted the malady:
“I’m not gonna get the vaccine until there’s data that shows that it will improve upon the immunity that’s been conferred to me as a result of a natural infection that I had.”
I see.
Funny, that echoes Rand Paul.
“Until they show me evidence that people who have already had the infection are dying in large numbers or being hospitalized or getting very sick, I just made my own personal decision that I’m not getting vaccinated because I’ve already had the disease and I have natural immunity,” he said on WABC-AM fin New York.
Gee. I wonder how anyone could possibly develop the idea they don’t need to get the damn shot?
For the record, the CDC advises one and all to get the inoculation, including those who have already contracted the virus. The immune response after having the disease isn’t as strong as the defensive response that occurs after vaccination and those who’ve had COVID-19 can still contract and transmit the coronavirus more easily if they haven’t been vaccinated.
“Experts do not yet know how long you are protected from getting sick again after recovering from COVID-19,” according to the CDC. “Even if you have already recovered from COVID-19, it is possible — although rare — that you could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 again.”
Paul and Massie are acting as if they’re tooling around the Monopoly board with a GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card because they’ve encountered apparently mild bouts of COVID-19. Paul in particular seems to feel that 34,592,415 infections and 621,295 is no big deal, certainly not sufficiently critical to get an inoculation.
Paul and Massie aren’t alone. Any number of lawmakers have questioned the efficacy of the vaccines and several state legislatures are considering laws that would prohibit discrimination against those who haven’t received an inoculation, providing them with the same protective status previously reserved for individuals based on race, gender or religion.
According to the website Axios, Montana already has adopted a law making it illegal to discriminate based on vaccine status. Several other states are moving in that direction.
Last weekend, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson drew applause when he noted that the Biden administration had failed to meet its vaccination goals.
You know another funny thing? These initiatives are all being undertaken by Republicans, like Paul and Massie. The COVID-19 vaccine is being transformed into a political issue with a substantial faction of the GOP coalescing around vaccine deniers and libertarians who apparently feel it’s their right to reject common sense, even if it affects other members of the community.
By God, people may die as a result, but at least they’ll own the libs.
McConnell, at his press briefing, was asked about the organized Republican effort to undermine the vaccination push.
“I’ve already answered the question about how I feel about this,’’ he said. “I can only speak for myself.”
With that, Addison Mitchell McConnell essentially acknowledged he knows where the fault lies.
Operation Warp Speed. Thank you President Trump.
–Andy Tillett