“For the unvaccinated, you’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm,” White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients recently attempted to explain. “So, our message to every American is clear: There is action you can take to protect yourself and your family. Wear a mask in public indoor settings. Get vaccinated, get your kids vaccinated, and get a booster shot when you’re eligible.”
Zients surely is no psychologist.
Even left-leaning media is now mocking the Biden Administration’s dehumanizing messaging on COVID-19.
Who is this for? Unvaccinated Americans are not going to be persuaded by messaging like this. https://t.co/he3jvfEgnz pic.twitter.com/ZI365x4hlB
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) December 20, 2021
The White House loves taking credit for policies, so why not take credit for presiding over the fastest vaccine uptake in United States history? An extraordinarily high majority of the most vulnerable Americans have chosen to be immunized against COVID-19.
Instead, oddly terrified of increased case rates, Team Biden remains silent about how they envision the slow end of this perpetual emergency. They clearly prefer scapegoating the unvaccinated, which grows less plausible each day, as transmission rates among the vaccinated rise and more of the population achieves a level of immunity.
The White House’s edicts are overly broad, too. Many children are not eligible for vaccines, and even more parents will choose not to get their children vaccinated since the danger posed by COVID to children is minuscule and the benefit of reduced transmission among children is potentially tiny. These children will not have a winter of severe illness and death.
Meanwhile, don’t look outside the U.S.
Countries with higher vaccination rates are still imposing draconian interventions like closures and curfews. Attempts to lock down the unvaccinated had no measurable effect on the spread in Austria, while vaccine passports showed no positive outcomes in Scotland.
So pushback and frustration begins.
“Massive government overreach by the Biden administration has ignited a fire in the bellies of freedom-loving Americans,” Jedediah Bila wrote Monday in the Daily Mail. “Americans are also questioning the immense power we’ve surrendered to big corporations over our once-private decisions.”
Factually, the vast majority of people who contract COVID have some form of immunity to it. The vast majority of the unvaccinated will also be folks under 60 who will survive. Even if privileged Democrats prefer living in paranoia, the Biden administration desperately needs to project confidence — in the vaccines or in people — by communicating that this is the beginning of the end.
Why won’t they?
Related: Should China Pay Reparations for Unleashing COVID on the World? Trump Thinks So
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