Yesterday, I wrote about how I’ve grown weary of the idea that getting vaccinated is a “Personal Choice.” As I noted, of course it is “Personal Choice” and personal are important in life. But what also important is understanding that personal choice don’t remove responsibility to others from our actions.
I have a new one to add, after seeing three similar news stories yesterday. I have grown weary of reading stories about people in the hospital with critical cases of COVD-19 who now, on second thought, regret that they didn’t get vaccinated. Ya think? To be clear, I’m terribly sorry to hear that these people are seriously ill, and I hope they recover. I don’t like hearing that anyone is infected, and worse that anyone dies. And I’m glad to know that they do now want to tell people to get the vaccine. Those are important words to hear. But the stories are growing wearying because these aren’t “Eureka!!!” moments. From the moment there was a pandemic a year-and-a-half ago, the concern was when there would be a vaccine. And when the first effective vaccine was approved seven months, it was reported as a massive breakthrough for saving lives and ending the pandemic. And 339 MILLION doses have been administered already, so it’s not like there isn’t a mountain of evidence supporting its efficacy. And there have only been a tiny handful of serious problems associated with vaccination, and that mainly for just one of the vaccines under very rare conditions. So, making the discovery that maybe it would have been a good idea to have gotten the free vaccine that save lives and can end the pandemic isn’t headline news. One of those yesterday is a right-wring radio host Phil Valentine. He was long a snarky and highly vocal opponent of getting vaccinated. When he tested positive for COVID-19, he even sent out a sort of snarky announcement about it on July 11 -- "Yes, the rumors are true. I have COVID. Unfortunately for the haters out there, it looks like I'm going to make it. Interesting experience," he wrote on Facebook, adding "I'll have to fill you in when I come back on the air. I'm hoping that will be tomorrow, but I may take a day off just as a precaution." (Note to pompous blowhards: before you do your little "Nyah, nyah" Snarky Dance when dealing with anything, but especially a deadly, highly-infectious disease, you might want to wait until you're absolutely back on your feet and in great shape.) It now turns out just 11 days that he’s condition has sadly turned very serious, and his radio network has expressed concerns for his safety. And his family put out a statement, saying, "Phil would like for his listeners to know that while he has never been an 'anti-vaxer' he regrets not being more vehemently 'Pro-Vaccine' and looks forward to being able to more vigorously advocate that position as soon as he is back on the air, which we all hope will be soon.”. Like with all those others who’ve seen the light when reality opened their eyes, I hope he recovers and appreciate the statement from his family. Who I more think about, though, are all those in his audience who listened to him and may have died. Or who didn’t die, but got infected and spread it to others, who died. That’s the main issue here. I feel terrible about those people who are critically ill and am glad that they are expressing regret for others to not face the same situation. But I feel worse for all the innocent people they may have infected who may infect others, who may infect still others, and some of who may die. Many of whom may die, for all I know. That’s why I’ve grown weary of the stories about people in the hospital with COVD who now regret that they didn’t get vaccinated. I wish them well, but to me the story is about all the other people they may have infected, or who they help support in their decision not to get vaccinated. Which brings us around to what I also mentioned the other day, how people like Sean Hannity, Peter Doocy, GOP leadership member Steve Scalise and others now finally, on second thought, are telling people to get vaccinated. What’s become very noticeable is that this list of leading Republican voices is growing. After 18 months downplaying the seriousness of the coronavirus and dismissing the need for taking safety precautions like social distancing and wearing masks – and seven months publicly ridiculing the vaccines (despite the likelihood that many of them have themselves been vaccinated) to the degree that about 34% of Americans have still not gotten the vaccine, most of who insist they won’t (though that, of course, could change…) – now, quite suddenly, so many of these leading GOP voices are suddenly realizing that suddenly telling people to get the vaccine is suddenly A Good Thing. Now, this could just be a totally massive coincidence. Or – it could be because there is something else at play. Hint: It’s not a massive coincidence. Now, I don’t know what that “something else” is that is causing all these leading Republican voices to all of a sudden see the light and tell people what they most-likely have known all along but for pure, idiotic, dangerous politics said the opposite, helping cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Two guesses, though, come to mind. It begins with all the reports that consistently show that the spike in COVID cases and deaths are almost exclusively among people who are unvaccinated. And all evidence shows that most Americans – by a huge margin – who are unvaccinated not only live in Red states, but are Republicans all across the country. It’s one thing to dismiss COVID safety precautions and vaccinations when you’re trying to create such a deadly policy, trying to impact all Americans – but it’s another when you see that virtually the only people it is affecting is the base of your own Republican Party. So, what seems most likely is that there are internal polls showing how support for the Republican policy dismissing the need to get vaccinated is plummeting off the charts, and driving moderate Republicans and independents away from the GOP in droves, and so leading voices in the Republican Party are panicking. The other possibility is that Republican Party officials realize that the only people who are dying off are their voters alone. And far-right media realizes that the only people who are dying off is their own audience. And so they have to do something to staunch the bleeding. To be clear, these two possibilities are not mutually exclusive. And there could be other factors at play. (For instance, perhaps lawyers told politicians and media that there could be a class action suit against them for reckless endangerment because they knew they were lying. That seems unlikely, but I can’t dismiss it.) Or who knows what else? But it’s not a coincidence. It’s panicking, whatever the reason. And if that’s what it takes to get leading Republican voices to speak out on behalf of getting vaccinated and helping end the pandemic – great! That’s what matters. And when the 2022 mid-terms come, the only people who will have forgotten that it was the Republican Party pushed against vaccinations for at least seven months until the pandemic spiked yet again will be the unvaccinated Republican base. Those who are still alive. Most everyone else will know and remember. And that’s what it will take for Republican leaders, because even with this panic Republicans still fall back to their default “spread the virus” position to kill off their base and continue the pandemic. And no, I’m not exaggerating. Because as you recall, only two days ago, Sean Hannity told his “Fox News” viewers -- "Just like we've been saying, please take COVID seriously. I can't say it enough, enough people have died, we don't need any more deaths. Take it seriously,” he said, adding – “It absolutely makes sense for many Americans to get vaccinated. I believe in science. I believe in the science of vaccinations." But just two days later, the delusion Republican base reared its ugly head and clearly got to Hannity, outraged that he would dare say it made sense to get vaccinated and that he believed in science, and believed in the science of vaccinations – which added a different panic into him. And so last night, just 48 hours later, the very same mouth told his audience -- "Well, first of all, I'm not urging people to get the COVID-19 vaccine, because I'm not a doctor. That is not what I said. I said to take it seriously, it can kill you. I said to do a lot of research. If you have a phone, do your research.” Yes, honestly, he said that, only two days later. Note to Sean Hannity (on third thought -- and who knows what his next thought will be, being flexible with the use of the word "thought"): video recording has been invented. Note to Republicans pushing vaccinations now on second thought and actually sticking to it: Great, and welcome. But hundreds of thousands of deaths are still on your hands. And a note to those in the hospital with COVID who, on second thought, regret not getting vaccinated previously: I'm sorry for your situation. And I hope that your regret extends beyond just yourself and to all the others you may have infected and perhaps caused to die.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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