Victor Davis Hanson // American Greatness
It was always going to be Herculean to inoculate, with an untried vaccine, a multi-ethnic nation of 330 million, across a vast continent—in an era when the media routinely warps the daily news.
Some minorities understandably harbored distrust of prior government vaccination programs.
Nearly 40 million foreign residents in America are from countries where corrupt governments had long ago lost the trust of the population.
I am thrilled that I wrote an opinion for my local paper that agrees with Mr. Hanson. I interpret it to mean that I am in august company.
“Now that 99% of current Covid hospitalizations are people who have not been vaccinated, obviously the decision is clear. Why would anyone NOT choose it? I propose several reasons.
Of late, distrust of government has reached new levels. As one of many examples, our current president has proclaimed that he had a full academic scholarship to law school, that he graduated from college with three degrees, and he ranked in the top half of his law school class. None of this is true. I would not heed the advice of a physician who made similar false claims, for fear that his problems with the truth extend into his current recommendations. Other people may share my opinion.
One group would likely be Native Americans. Since I have worked in public health on a Native American reservation, I can tell you that convincing them that the government is here to help us is a very hard sell.
Recent figures indicate that the percentage of vaccination among blacks is 28%. Could that be due to our current vice president’s earlier statements not to trust the vaccine? Perhaps they just remember the Tuskegee experiment (which only ended in 1972). Regardless of which issue is more applicable, they are unlikely to put their faith in government, either.
In England, recent evidence indicates that people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 may be able to transmit the delta variant just as easily as those who aren’t (Public Health England, via Forbes). People who fear significant vaccine side effects (and they do occur) could not be blamed for asking how being vaccinated will protect others.
Those who have actually had the virus, and whose immunity has been documented to be greater than that produced by the vaccine could not be blamed for declining the injection.
Lastly, instead of having easy access to impartial news, we now deal with media sources and network “experts” who suppress evidence which refutes their party lines. At some point, journalists and social media CEOs chose themselves as arbiters of what constitutes “misinformation.” Unfortunately, they are frequently proven wrong. Frequently wrong, but never in doubt, as the saying goes.
When I was in the Navy, if I complained to my CO without suggesting a solution, I would be told (not politely) to “Get the hell out of my office.” With those memories in mind, my humble solution is to suggest that electing more truthful politicians, and access to unbiased news will have more success in improving the vaccination rate than censoring opposing viewpoints, virtue signaling, public shaming, and mandates (which our elected officials frequently don’t follow).
Our first chance to effect such change is September 14, 2021.
(The recall election for Gavin Newsom.)”