Vanity Fair on the political fight over taking credit for the Covid vaccines

“Trump's supporters want him to get credit for the vaccine which many of them refuse to get as a way of owning the libs.  Got that?” the New Yorker’s Susan Glasser tweeted Wednesday night.  Fox News, which can’t seem to get its COVID vaccine story straight, “almost immediately aired a complaint that Biden didn't extend a thank-you to Trump for accelerating the vaccine timeline,” according to CNN’s Brian Stelter.  Both Stelter and Glasser point to hypocrisy on the part of Trump supporters, particularly those on conservative media outlets like Fox, who at once argue the former administration deserves more credit for the U.S. vaccination effort and fuel skepticism about getting the jab.  Trump on Thursday called vaccine hesitancy “a big situation” but didn’t commit to doing anything about, even as he acknowledged requests for him to make a public service announcement promoting the vaccine to his followers, as Biden’s top health official urged this week.  As Politico reported, all living former presidents and first ladies appeared in a vaccine PSA last month—with the exception of the Trumps.  In January, the former president opted not to get the shot publicly, as other officials did, and his endorsements of the vaccine have largely been made in passing.

~ Vanity Fair, "Trump's Latest Delusion: 'I'm the Father of the Vaccine'," April 29, 2021

Donald Trump: "I'm the father of the vaccine"

They want me to do public service messages and everything about everybody taking the vaccine and look, I guess in a certain way I'm the father of the vaccine because I was the one that pushed it.  To get it done in less than 9 months was a miracle.  Fauci said it would take 3 to 5 years.  He thought it was something that just wouldn't be that effective because it would take so long to get.

I pushed the FDA like they have never been pushed before.  I wouldn't exactly say they're in love with me.  This is a very bureaucratic organization.  I pushed them like they've never been pushed before and that's why we have it.  When they did the pause on Johnson & Johnson, I thought that was a very very stupid thing to do.

~ Donald Trump, Fox Business interview, April 29, 2021

Andrew Wiggins on getting vaccinated

I still wish I didn't get it, to be honest with you...  I did it, and I was an All-Star this year and champion, so that was the good part, just not missing out on the year, the best year of my career.  But for my body, I just don't like putting all that stuff in my body, so I didn't like that and I didn't like that it wasn't my choice.  I didn't like that it was either get this or don't play.

~ Andrew Wiggins, "Golden State Warriors' Andrew Wiggins still regrets getting COVID-19 vaccine, despite All-Star, title season," ESPN.com, July 20, 2022

Rasmussen Reports on voter support for the war on the unvaccinated

How far are Democrats willing to go in punishing the unvaccinated?  Twenty-nine percent (29%) of Democratic voters would support temporarily removing parents’ custody of their children if parents refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine.  That’s much more than twice the level of support in the rest of the electorate – seven percent (7%) of Republicans and 11% of unaffiliated voters – for such a policy.

~  Rasmussen Reports, "COVID-19: Democratic Voters Support Harsh Measures Against Unvaccinated," January 13, 2022

Vasko Kohlmayer: "We have come to the end of the vaccine road as far as Covid-19 is concerned"

At this point we are out of vaccine options.  No vaccine that is currently at our disposal can protect people from contracting and transmitting Omicron infection or reduce the severity of its symptoms. 

We have seen that the opposite is actually the case: the vaccinated and the boostered are contracting omicron at higher rates than the unvaccinated. 

This means that there is nothing we can do by way of vaccinal intervention with the shots that are available to us at the moment. 

Here is the reality of our situation: We have come – at least for now – to the end of the vaccine road as far as Covid-19 is concerned.  At this time, we simply possess no effective vaccine with which to tackle this disease. 

This may change in the future, but for now this is the reality of our situation, and it is imperative that we clearly grasp and accept it so that we do not inflict any unnecessary injury or death. 

Since the vaccines are ineffective against the prevailing variant, all Covid injectioneering has to stop.  To give out any more shots of these vaccines – which we know do not work – is senseless and medically irresponsible. 

Continuing vaccination under current circumstances can bring no benefit and will only result in needless harm.  To pointlessly expose healthy people to potential injury would constitute medical malfeasance.

~ Vasko Kohlmayer, "Israel Confirms Vaccine Fail Against Omicron: All Vaccine Mandates Must End Now," LewRockwell.com, January 19, 2022

Tony Blair: "If you're not vaccinated, you're an idiot"

We need to target the unvaccinated.  Frankly, if you're not vaccinated at the moment and you're eligible, and you've got no health reasons for not being vaccinated, you're not just irresponsible, you're an idiot.

~ Tony Blair, "Tony Blair: If you’re eligible and refuse the Covid vaccine, you’re an idiot," The Times, December 22, 2021

Scott Morrison on why Novak Djokovic needs to be vaccinated to play in the Australian Open

If he is not vaccinated he must provide acceptable proof that he cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.  If that evidence is insufficient, then he won’t be treated any different to anyone else and will be on the next plane home – there should be no special rules for Novak Djokovic.

~ Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia, "Appalling message’: outrage over Novak Djokovic’s medical exemption to play Australian Open," The Guardian, January 5, 2022

President Macron declares war on the unvaccinated

I am not about pissing off the French people.  But as for the non-vaccinated, I really want to piss them off.  And we will continue to do this, to the end.  This is the strategy. 

In a democracy, the worst enemies are lies and stupidity.  We are putting pressure on the unvaccinated by limiting, as much as possible, their access to activities in social life.

It is only a very small minority who are resisting.  [France has vaccinated almost 90% of its population who are eligible.]  How do we reduce that minority?  We reduce it – sorry for the expression – by pissing them off even more.

We have to tell them: from 15 January, you will no longer be able to go to the restaurant.  You will no longer be able to go for a coffee, you will no longer be able to go to the theatre.  You will no longer be able to go to the cinema.

When my freedoms threaten those of others, I become someone irresponsible.  Someone irresponsible is not a citizen.

~ Emmanuel Macron, President of France, interview with Le Parisien, January 4, 2022

ESPN on the NBA's Covid crisis

NBA players are testing positive and heading into quarantine at an unprecedented rate. As of Monday afternoon, 214 players have entered the league's health and safety protocols this season, with 201 coming in December and 170 in the past two weeks. Six NBA head coaches have entered protocols this season, all in December. 

Twenty-eight players entered protocols on Sunday, a new single-day high for the season, eclipsing the previous high of 17 on Dec. 17 and Dec. 23. Monday, which saw 13 players and two head coaches enter protocols, marked the 12th day in the past 14 in which there have been double-digit player additions to the protocols list. 

Through Monday, 541 NBA players have played in at least one game this season, setting a record for the most in a season ever, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

~ "Memo: Vaccinated NBA players, coaches can now test out of quarantine in six days," ESPN, December 27, 2021

President Biden: "If you are vaccinated, you should feel comfortable celebrating Christmas"

All these people who have not been vaccinated, you have an obligation to yourselves, to your family, and, quite frankly -- I know I'll get criticized for this -- to your country.  Get vaccinated now.  It's free.  It's convenient.  I promise you, it saves lives.

If you are vaccinated and follow the precautions that we all know well, you should feel comfortable celebrating Christmas and the holidays as you planned it. 

If you are not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned.  You’re at a high risk of getting sick.  And if you get sick, you're likely to spread it to others, including friends and family.  And the unvaccinated have a significantly higher risk of ending up in a hospital or even dying. 

~ President Joe Biden, December 21, 2021

Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot on her January 3 vaccine requirement

We didn’t want it to get to this point, but given the situation we find ourselves in, we have no choice. 

Beginning Jan. 3, you must show proof you are fully vax'd to enter bars, restaurants, fitness centers, and entertainment/recreational venues where food/drink are served.

To put it simply, if you have been living vaccine-free, your time is up. If you wish to live life as w/the ease to do the things you love, you must be vax'd. 

This health order may pose an inconvenience to the unvaccinated, and in fact it is inconvenient by design.

~ Lori E. Lightfoot, mayor of Chicago, tweet, December 21, 2021

Joe Biden: "For the unvaccinated, you're looking at a winter of severe illness and death"

We are intent on not letting Omicron disrupt work and school for the vaccinated.  You've done the right thing, and we will get through this.

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.

~ President Joe Biden, whitehouse.gov, December 19, 2021

Tom Woods: Moderna pulls out of San Francisco investment conference due to Covid concerns

The "You Can't Make This Stuff Up" Department is going to need to open a five-story annex at this point, but get this: Moderna just announced that it's withdrawing from the upcoming J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference because of -- get this -- COVID concerns. 

You heard that right. The same people whose vaccine was described as extraordinarily effective are afraid to attend a conference full of vaccinated people in a city that requires proof of vaccination to enter a huge array of indoor venues. 

~ Tom Woods, December 15, 2021

Alexis Madrigal: "The pandemic will soon be over for the heavily vaccinated" (2021)

For the immunized, this disease is essentially harmless. Washington State, for example, has reported just 100 cases and as few as eight hospitalizations among its 1.2 million fully vaccinated people. But for the vulnerable and unvaccinated, COVID-19 is as devastating as it has always been. 

The United States is entering a new phase of the pandemic. Although we’ve previously described the most devastating periods as “waves” and “surges,” the more proper metaphor now is a tornado: Some communities won’t see the storm, others will be well fortified against disaster, and the most at-risk places will be crushed. The virus has never hit all places equally, but the remarkable protection of the vaccines, combined with the new attributes of the variants, has created a situation where the pandemic will disappear, but only in some places. The pandemic is or will soon be over for a lot of people in well-resourced, heavily vaccinated communities. In places where vaccination rates are low and risk remains high, more people will join the 550,000 who have already died.

~ Alexis C. Madrigal, "The Threat That Covid-19 Poses Now," The Atlantic, April 2, 2021

Anthony Fauci on vaccine mandates

Andrea Mitchell: I also want to ask you about the president's mandate which is being litigated right now...  There's so much opposition now in Congress and across the states, even in Democratic states...  This is becoming just a political test and the outlook is not at all a sure thing in the court system.  Is there any thought of backing off of that and trying to avoid all the outcry against it?

Anthony Fauci: We really have to get people vaccinated.  I understand and we all understand how people do not like to be told what to do.  They want to make their own choice and their own free will.  I get that and I respect that, but these are unusual times and you can't think only of yourself and your own personal opinion, but you've got to think about your communal responsibility to get yourself and your family and, indirectly then, the community protected.  So I would prefer - and we all would prefer - that people would be voluntarily getting vaccinated, but if they're not going to do that, sometimes you've got to do things that are unpopular, but that clearly supersede individual choices and are directed predominately at the communal good, and that's what we're talking about when we're talking about requirements.

Mitchell: It's such an important warning.  Thank you very much.  Maybe there would be a better word than mandate, but I don't know what it is.  

~ Dr. Anthony Fauci, Anthony Fauci interview with Andrea Mitchell, MSNBC, 8:35 mark, December 8, 2021

Dr. Robert Malone on the performance of Covid vaccines vs. initial claims

If nothing else, Joe Public, in good faith, has accepted vaccine.  And they bought the storyline that this vaccine is going to protect them and that they're now out of the woods.  They've taken risk - most of them know there's some risk...  But they've accepted that risk,  they've done their good thing for their community because that's what they've been told to do and they assume that they were going to be protected.  And now - boom - here comes the CDC slide deck and it says "no, I'm sorry, you're not going to be protected from infection."  If you get infected, the levels of virus may be at least as high, if not higher, from what you would've had if you were not ever vaccinated and if you are infected it's not going to protect you from infecting your children or your grandmother or whomever else might be around you.

So it's not providing full protection from infection, it's not protecting you from virus replication if you do get infected, and it's not protecting you from infecting others.

~ Dr. Robert Malone, COVID Revealed, Episode 9, 21:00 mark

President Biden on the Omicron variant

On Thursday, I'll be putting forward a detailed strategy outlining how we're going to fight COVID this winter, not with shutdowns or lockdowns but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing and more...  If people are vaccinated and wear their mask, there is no need for the lockdown.

~ President Joe Biden, "Biden says 'lockdowns' not needed to curb coronavirus variant," The Hill, November 29, 2021

Dr. Aseem Malhotra on the vaccines and link to heart disease

I think now it's high time that policy makers around the world put an end to the mandates because I think if this signal [heart disease link with Covid vaccines] is strong and if it's correct, then history will not be on their side and the public will not forgive them for it.

~ Dr. Aseem Malhotra, "Explosive Interview, UK Cardiologist Highlights Link Between mRNA Vaccines and Heart Disease, While Noting Researchers Withholding Data Fearful of Losing Funding," The Last Refuge, 2:50 mark, November 27, 2021

Penn State football coach James Franklin on Covid vaccines

I don’t think they want me to get into the exact percentage of where we’re at.  It’s something that I’ve been tracking all year long and been very aggressive...  For me to sit here and tell you I’m happy, I’m not going to be happy until it’s 100%.  That is staff, players and everybody associated with the program. 

I think vaccination rates are clearly going to be a competitive advantage or a competitive disadvantage.  I’ve stated that very clearly to my team.  If you have a certain position that has low vaccination rates, then all of a sudden you get somebody that pops positive and you lose four guys at one position, that’s going to be a challenge.  That’s going to be an issue.

~ James Franklin, "Penn State football coach James Franklin, players pushing for vaccinations among personnel," Centre Daily Times, July 10, 2021

(At Big Ten Media Days Thursday on July 8, coach Franklin said his team had over a 70% vaccination rate.)

Dr. Sohrab Lutchmedial on the Covid vaccine (2021)

So happy to do my part.  I'm really looking forward to visiting my father again and not being worried when I do.

~ Dr. Sohrab Lutchmedial, after receiving his first mRNA vaccine, January 16, 2021

For those who won't get the vaccine for selfish reasons - whatever - I won't cry at their funeral.

~ tweet, July 10, 2021

The vaccine has been tested on youth and looks undeniably safe.  You have a higher chance of getting into a car accident on your way to hockey practice than you do having a complication from this vaccine.

~ Facebook post, September 25, 2021

I think all of us would treat that unvaxxed patient with respect and to the best of our abilities.  But the people that convinved them not to get vaxxed?  I want to punch those people in the face.

~ tweet, October 9, 2021

Dr. Lutchmedial received his third vaccine shot on October 24 and passed away in his sleep on November 8.

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