White House calls on Trump to urge hesitant Republicans to get Covid-19 vaccine
Pollemix News – March 15, 2021
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the Biden administration would support former President Trump joining the vaccine outreach effort by providing assurances to hesitant Republicans that the Covid-19 vaccine was safe.
“If former President Trump woke up tomorrow and wanted to be more vocal about the safety and efficacy of the campaign, of the vaccine, certainly we’d support that,” Psaki told reporters.
Adding, “Every other living former president has participated in public campaigns. They did not need an engraved invitation to do so. He may decide he should do that. If so great, but there are a lot of different ways to engage to reach out to ensure that people of a range of political support and backing know the vaccine is safe and effective.”
Trump supporters are the least likely constituency to accept the Covid-19 vaccine with 41% of Republicans saying they would not get the vaccine when it becomes available to them, far higher than the 30% of all respondents who said the same. From the onset of the pandemic GOP voters have been more skeptical of the danger of the virus, as well as masking or shut down efforts to curb the spread so it was always anticipated that a greater outreach effort would be required to those voters.
Even after President Trump contracted the virus in October of 2020 Republicans remained steadfastly against Covid-19 restrictions and many saw Trump’s rapid recovery as evidence that the danger of the virus was greatly overstated. In the last fortnight it was revealed that both Trump and wife Melania received the Covid-19 vaccine in the waning days of his Presidency, however, this to has done little to bolster enthusiasm among his supporters. One complicating factor is that since his Twitter ban Trump’s ability to hold sway over his ardent supporters has greatly diminished. Moreover, Fox News which acted as Trump’s personal agitprop during his Presidency has increasingly cast doubt over the vaccine with Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham particularly vocal in recent weeks.
Why are many Republicans vaccine skeptics? @brikeilarcnn #rollsthetape
“Fox viewers are guinea pigs in a huge disinformation experiment conducted on humans, and Americans, whether they are Fox viewers or not, will pay for it with their health… or their lives.” pic.twitter.com/E61VBnlBfD
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) March 15, 2021
Despite his media supporters expressing doubts over the Covid-19 vaccine those same acolytes also sought to credit Trump’s Operation Warp Speed for the development of the vaccine, leading to a strange dichotomy of applauding Trump for being the architect of a solution they are simultaneously discrediting.
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