Biden’s Vaccine Browbeating Backfires … But COVID Rates Fall Anyway
“It’s almost enough to make one wonder whether there isn’t some other agenda lurking in the shadows behind all this COVID authoritarianism.”
How can you measure President Joe Biden’s sway over the public? Try looking at the impact his attacks on the unvaccinated have had on immunization rates. He’s managed to drive them down. Not that it matters, since the number of new COVID cases is falling, even in states with low vaccination rates.
In his remarkably antagonistic Sept. 9 speech announcing vaccine mandates, Biden did everything he could to disparage and shame the unvaccinated.
He blamed them for overcrowding hospitals and “leaving no room for someone with a heart attack.” He said they were causing “a lot of damage” and have “cost all of us.” He said they were “keeping us from turning the corner.”
He tried to pit the vaccinated against them, claiming those who had the shot needed protection from the unvaccinated (which is odd, since the vaccine is supposed to protect the vaccinated, isn’t it?).
Biden basically called unvaccinated Americans selfish morons. “What more do you need to see?” he asked after saying the vaccine is FDA approved and free.
He all but encouraged hate. “Many of us are frustrated with the nearly 80 million Americans who are still not vaccinated,” and “I understand your anger.”
The topper was when Biden declared that “this is not about freedom or personal choice.”
So how has Biden’s bullying worked so far?
Let’s look at the data.
Turns out that the number being vaccinated daily was lower a week after Biden’s mandate speech than the week before. On Sept. 2, almost 907,000 got a shot. On Sept. 16, that number was 773,763. The nearby chart shows the two-week trend.
There’s another problem with Biden’s bullying. The Delta surge appears to have already peaked and is on the decline in many states, including those with the lowest vaccination rates.
As a matter of fact, there doesn’t seem to be any correlation whatsoever between statewide vaccination rates and the current trend in new COVID cases.
In Florida, which Biden repeatedly bashes for not kowtowing to his wishes, the number of daily new COVID cases has been in decline for the past 30 days. In Texas, another state that raises Biden’s ire, the number of new cases appears to have peaked.
Rates of new cases have been in decline in Mississippi, a state where less than 42% are fully vaccinated, and Georgia, where less than 44% are vaccinated.
But the number of new cases is on the rise in Vermont and Maine, which have the highest and second-highest vaccination rates in the nation (69% and 67% are fully vaccinated, respectively, in those two states).
There’s also the fact that – as we pointed out in this space last week – the figures being bandied about on hospitalizations from COVID are wildly exaggerated. And the death rate among those testing positive for COVID has never been lower.
So, while Biden attempts to whip up an angry mob against the unvaccinated, tries to force people to get jabbed, and complains about freedom and personal choice (whatever happened to keep your laws off my body?), the need for all these attacks gets less compelling each day, as the number of new cases declines.
It’s almost enough to make one wonder whether there isn’t some other agenda lurking in the shadows behind all this COVID authoritarianism.
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