Anti-vaxxers place warped ideology over saving lives
Even as bodies stacked up in refrigerated trailers and were buried in mass graves during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, 21st century Know Nothings refused to wear masks and to avoid close quarters. They refused to take vaccines even their favorite right-wing propagandists took. Instead they pursued quack remedies and did “their own research.” Their political crushes promoted insanity and they dutifully followed them and the wildest internet conspiracy theories. Anything not to bend the knee to smartypants elites who know how to thwart diseases or fuse atoms.
(When people ask if I had any reaction to the vaccines, I say no, except for minor irritation from the microchip. If they still complain if you wear a mask in stores, look around furtively and start babbling about gummint surveillance and defeating facial recognition. Fight crazy with crazy.)
MAGA Republicans gobbled up whatever nonsense the god of makeup and comb-overs sold them in his quest to prove he was too “strongly” for the deadly virus. Even after he nearly died from it. Even after he claimed credit for the vaccine.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is still playing to vaccine conspiracists. He seems determined to run for the presidency over more bodies of Floridians.
MSNBC’s Alex Wagner on Tuesday spotlighted a report from the National Bureau of Economic Research that tells us what we already knew: Republicans died from the virus in greater numbers than Democrats. For Republicans in Ohio and Florida the death rate was 76 percent “higher than the excess death rate for Democrats.” The gap widened after vaccines became widely available.
Republicans in those states continue to die needlessly because they are not getting vaccinated against Covid. DeSantis wants a grand jury to investigate any misconduct in his state surrounding vaccines, with particular focus on the Centers for Disease Control (read, Anthony Fauci).
DeSantis’ announcement was the latest in an ongoing war between his administration and the Biden administration — and the broader medical community — over the pandemic. DeSantis has built a national reputation fighting against Covid-related mandates such as vaccine requirements or schools ordering students to wear masks. The Biden administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Along with his surgeon general, DeSantis has rejected vaccines for young children even after the FDA gave approval for the vaccines in kids under 5. Florida was the only state in the nation to not re-order vaccines for children ahead of the FDA’s fast-tracked approval.
“The data don’t lie, Republicans killed their fellow Republicans by lying to them about covid to make money & win elections,” strategist Rachel Bitecofer tweets.
And why wouldn’t they? The GOP doesn’t care if erecting new barriers to voting hurts their own voters so long as they hurt Democrats more. They sent meat processing workers back into factories to die of Covid in service to the economy. It’s as cynical as it is morally bankrupt. And their own voters line up for more.
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