According to the Military Times, one-third of military active duty and National Guard troops have refused the COVID19 vaccine. In a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee, Defense Department personnel testified that military acceptance rates mirrored those of the general population, although they admitted they had no data on the subject because they had no system in place to collect it.
All of which could make the US military look bad, but according to a New York Post article, more than half of American health care workers say they will refuse or delay taking the vaccine. “Of that defiant group, 31 percent say they want to see further results about the vaccine’s effectiveness and side effects before making up their minds, 13 percent are refusing to take it, and another 7 percent claim they only will if required.” Now the military is looking a lot better.
What accounts for people refusing a vaccine that appears both effective and safe? Lack of trust according to Nautilus. General lack of trust in government, lack of trust in a politicized vaccine, lack of trust in an administration characterized daily as lying about everything, lack of trust in available information. All of those, save the last one, can be blamed on toxic politics. The last belongs to journalists.
Donald Trump is a huckster, and his practices of exaggeration and self-glorification have done little to bolster his credibility. This was exploited for three years by his political opponents, with whom the mainstream media and big tech aligned fully. Fortunately, during that period the nation faced few huge problems, and an improving economy can cover a lot of cracks. That all changed on January 1, 2020, when Taiwan closed its borders. By the end of January, we knew why. The cost was enormous: half a million Americans dead, $3.3 trillion in additional debt, the destruction of much of small business and millions of jobs. Throughout this, the country never came together behind anything government did.
Claiming to rely on science, Trump’s critics repeatedly said they would not take a vaccine developed under Trump. Others battled against a potential treatment, hydroxychloroquine, because it had been mentioned by Trump. Its side effects were portrayed as deadly, and even respected medical professionals such as CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta remained silent when the drug was described as deadly dangerous. In fact, the side effects of hydroxychloroquine are fewer and less dangerous than those for either aspirin or the most commonly-prescribed birth control medications. The PR campaign against Operation Warp Speed, which broke records for getting a vaccine developed, tested and into people’s arms, didn’t stop even after the election. VP Harris claimed that the new administration was starting from scratch. President Biden, who was vaccinated before he took office, claimed this week that there was no vaccine when he was inaugurated. Dr. Anthony Fauci disputed both claims.
On February 17, 2021, President Biden’s appearance on ABC television was summarized by the network:
You might get a vaccine shot in June. Or July. Hopefully by fall.
And children are definitely returning to school soon, maybe.
As for when things return to normal? Let's not talk about that yet.
So, the US population, to include both the military and healthcare workers, has little trust in what it is told by government, nor by news outlets. Law prohibits the military from ordering service members to accept a vaccine not yet fully approved by the FDA, and the existing vaccines are only approved for emergency use. No one can order a health care worker to accept a vaccine.
We find ourselves in an unfortunate – that’s the kindest word I can find – situation, where those charged with defending us from our enemies cannot be deployed in all cases, those charged with defending us from disease cannot be used in all cases, those charged with protecting us from crime are hesitant to do their jobs for fear of being charged as criminals, and we’ve done this to ourselves.
Bullies – there is no other way to describe the Black Lives Matter organization and Antifa – incited violence across the country leading to more than 500 riots. Minneapolis led the way by slashing the police department’s budget and calling police officers racists and white supremacists; when crime skyrocketed in the city, it was forced to confront reality and hire more police officers. New York City abolished its unit that specialized in getting guns off the street, and the Mayor was surprised when shootings soared. Seattle city officials portrayed law enforcement as the problem, then saw a dramatic rise in crime.
In pursuit of short-term political advantage, a coalition of BLM, Antifa, leftist politicians, Democrats, big business, big tech, and most of traditional news sources worked together behind the scenes to destroy faith in American institutions, as was proudly documented by Time Magazine. This time it was the left; the right is subject to the same set of incentives and lack of forethought as the left, with no better ethics. At his inauguration, President Biden called for unity; ever since he has unilaterally moved to implement an agenda without the support of half of the country.
Benjamin Franklin, was asked what sort of nation he had helped found, and famously replied “A republic, if we can keep it.” We have the likely answer to Franklin’s unasked question. The matching bookend was created in 1970 by political cartoonist Walt Kelly, in his comic strip Pogo: We have met the enemy, and he is us.”