America COMMENTARY Who’s Skipping the Vaccine? B BY BRIAN C. JOONDEPH, M.D.
ig media has been in overdrive pushing COVID-19 vaccinations, at least since Joe Biden was ensconced in the White House. Remember that when Donald Trump was still
president, the vaccines were suspect, simply because Trump played a major role in their development and rollout. Before the election, Biden and running mate Kamala Har-
ris were vaccine hesitant. Both cast doubt on the COVID-19 vaccines, still in clinical trials last fall. Biden said: “I trust vaccines. I trust scientists. But I don’t trust Donald Trump.” Did he believe Trump was
cooking up the vaccines in the White House basement, the sole decision maker regarding approv- al, ignoring the pharmaceutical companies creating the vaccines, overseen and ultimately approved by the FDA, not the president? Harris expressed similar sus-
The Answer May Surprise You New data indicates highly educated Americans are among the most hesitant.
in acceptance, or refusal of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services.” A vaccine-hesitant person may be OK with routine child-
hood immunizations or a flu shot, but not the COVID-19 or shingles vaccines. An anti-vaxxer would say “no” to all of the above.
Leaving aside the rationale or flaws behind these views,
who are the vaccine hesitant and why? Last March, Forbes reported that 49 percent of Republi-
can men and 47 percent of Trump supporters will refuse any vaccine, setting the narrative for who is to blame now for the delta variant surge.
Unknown then but known
now is that the vaccines don’t pre- vent infection or transmission as much as expected. According to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky: “Vaccinated people infected with delta can transmit the virus.” The vaccines do, however,
picion, saying: “I would not trust Donald Trump, and it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the effi- cacy and the reliability of whatever he’s talking about. I will not take his word for it.” Once it became clear there would be a new occupant in
DEFIANT Protesters at a “Freedom Rally” in September denounce New York vaccine mandate for city workers and restaurant patrons.
reduce the risk of severe illness and death, allowing many to suffer milder infection, gaining natural immunity, and pushing the coun- try closer to herd immunity where COVID-19 becomes a seasonal nuisance like influenza.
What is the media not saying about the vaccine hesitant? An online survey of 5 million Americans, conducted
the Oval Office, the vaccine narrative flipped and the admin- istration embraced the new vaccines as if Biden and Harris conceived of and developed them, rather than having the vaccines and a robust rollout dropped on their laps when they strolled into the White House. The U.S. is about 51 percent fully vaccinated. While that
may not seem like success, if you break it down, the numbers are more favorable — 62 percent of adults and 81 percent of the elderly are fully vaccinated. Another segment of the population has natural immunity
based on having had COVID-19. Given natural infection as a second pathway toward herd immunity, America has done well.
Who isn’t yet vaccinated in America and why? There is vaccine hesitancy, which according to Wikipedia is “a delay
20 NEWSMAX | OCTOBER 2021
between January and May 2021 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, suggested that highly educated Americans are among the vaccine hesi- tant.
The researchers found a U-shaped curve with the greatest
hesitancy among the least and most educated. “The most common concern for those who are hesitant to take the vac- cine is potential side effects, with a lack of trust in government close behind in second.” So much for the media narrative that only the missing-
teeth, knuckle-dragging, Neanderthal Trump supporters are against vaccination. A decision to be vaccinated involves looking at evidence,
scientific studies, and their validity, weighing risks and ben- efits, then arriving at a decision. Public trust in government is quite low, at 24 percent, according to Pew Research. If the government says to take
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