The Daily News reported all Texans 16 and older are eligible for vaccination next week ("Virtually all Texans will be eligible for vaccines on Monday," The Daily News, March 24). The day before, the newspaper reported half of Galveston County residents aged 16 or older have received at least one COVID-19 shot ("Half of Galveston County residents have received a vaccination," The Daily News, March 23).
While that sounds like good news, one must wonder if we've reached an impasse. A recent poll from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist found that 47 percent of people who supported former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election say they will not be vaccinated.
Even though their leader received a vaccine, albeit in private, is the Republican game plan to sabotage President Biden’s vaccine effort?
Republicans have become so brainwashed from decades of right-wing pundits demonizing Democrats that they're willing to sacrifice themselves and their loved ones to make Biden’s vaccination rollout fail.
This is the same group of people who politicized the wearing of masks, supported the insurrection in January and have chosen sides with Russia’s Putin over their own president. And to this day, they refuse health care because a Democratic president created it.
Republicans have spent a year complaining about lockdowns and losing their freedoms; now with a chance for a return to normalcy, they balk.
Johnny Trlica
Galveston
(57) comments
One does have to wonder if more Republicans would be willing to get vaccinated if their president had won the election.
Sorry, it has NOTHING to do with Trump, Bailey. It has to do with FREEDOM. To vaccinate or not to vaccinate is their choice.
President Trump was vaccinated in January and he has urged others to do likewise.
With herd immunity do we have to have 100% vaccinated? The SCIENCE says NO.
Bailey> Truth is we have the vaccines because of a Republican President and Republican support for getting it. Democrats said it was impossible.
Republicans: Thank God we had Trump to get us the vaccine!!!
Also Republicans: We're not falling for this government plot to poison us all with vaccines!
Gary, I'm very grateful for the German scientists who created the mRNA technique, and the multinational pharma corporations who turned it into an extremely effective vaccine in record time. And I'm grateful that the former president promised to buy as much of it as they could make, regardless of whether or not it worked.
I would be more grateful if the former president would convince his antiscience antivaccine followers to get their pasty white butts vaccinated.
"regardless of whether or not it worked" You had to get your unsubstantiated digs in, Bailey.
And Trump urged ALL to get a vaccine. You must have missed it.
Here's the abbreviated form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F8mCijMRkc
Here's the whole presentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM9JvYjPW6o
Are you "grateful"?
"Environment lawyer turned controversial vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doubts the safety and efficacy of Moderna and Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines and said he would urge his 92-year-old mother Ethel not to take either one."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/robert-f-kennedy-jr-would-absolutely-not-advise-his-mom-ethel-to-get-covid-19-vaccine/ar-BB1e6wcp
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not a Republican.
He is also not a doctor!
Is that important, Craig? The article refers to Republicans, which includes many health practitioners but not exclusively.
I think it’s important. I asked my doctor his opinion on the vaccine and his response was to get the first shot I could get. So I will follow my trusted medical advisor over rhetoric and news stories.
Yes, Carlos you have the right not to get vaccinated. For those who do not get vaccinated, not come asking for us to pay you hospital bills. But we have to.
"not come asking for us to pay you hospital bills"
So, you not addressing those who chose not to get vaccinated but those who want government funded healthcare.
Carlos> Those who choose not to get vaccinated possibly have a higher risk of getting infected. If you do not have insurance and have to be hospitalized, the taxpayer foots the bill. Don’t change the subject.
Not you personally Carlos.
Yep, you found the most famous anti vaxxer Democrat who ever lived. RFK Jr has been an anti vaxxer long before Covid or the Covid vaccine. He doesn’t believe in any vaccines. If smallpox was rampant and he was offered a vaccine, he’d refuse it, Carlos. RFK, Jr is not a good example of this particular issue.
Bottom line, there are more in the right than on the left who are refusing the vaccine and there are more right wing men than women refusing it.
I don’t blame trump as much as I blame it on disinformation by right wing online forums, groups and YouTube channels by people claiming to be experts in the field telling people all the potential problems that could come from an mRNA vaccine or the rumors about Bill Gates putting microchips in it.
Getting vaccinated under the Trump administration may have been more comfortable for these men because they trusted the admin more than they trust the Biden administration which is pretty normal.
I think it will just take time and people getting used to the idea and myths getting debunked to people’s satisfaction. I’m still hopeful for herd immunity.
"Carlos. RFK, Jr is not a good example of this particular issue." Of course not to yo, Heidi. Anything that does not fit you false narrative is not a "good example".
Herein lies the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Your Democrat is a group-think mind-numb robot who does whatever the herd does. If the herd wants to run headlong over a cliff to certain death, they will join the stampede.
Republicans, on the other hand, use their God-given intellect to analyze information and make the best decision they can regardless what the herd is doing. If the herd wants to stampede over a cliff they will stand aside and allow them to do so unimpeded.
All these vaccines are experimental and the side effects are unknown.
It's interesting that the group that whined the loudest about every single action taken to try to slow the spread of the virus is the same group that is now whining the loudest about the one thing that is proven to stop the virus.
There is no evidence that the new vaccines pose a significant health risk, and no evidence to believe that they ever will. There is overwhelming evidence that failure to vaccinate will result in millions more Americans getting sick and hundreds of thousands more dying.
The willingness to believe things for which there is no evidence and not believe things for which we have overwhelming evidence is amazing to me. If that's what counts as 'God-given intellect", I'm thankful that mine came through millions of years of evolution.
Bailey> Aren't you a little miffed that your million years of evolution education has failed you? Evolution corrects it's mistakes, you don't.
Nah, Gary, I'm very happy with my evolved intelligence. Although from the comments in this forum I may well be missing out on the bliss that comes from ignorance.
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Robert it’s funny you can even write that with a straight face. The Republican Party has been taken over by a failed real estate developer and have followed him lockstep. Many of those free thinking idiots committed treason at the capital because they followed a demagogue.
Craig it's funny you can even write that with a straight face. The Democrat Party has been taken over by a failed community organizer and have followed him lockstep. Many of those group thinking morons committed treason.
I don’t disagree with that. Never said I supported the democrats. Just don’t support Trump or anything to do with him.
And since Trump's agenda was Conservative you don't have anything to do with that? I smell a donkey!
Craig Mason posts, "Many of those free thinking idiots committed treason at the capital because they followed a demagogue."
Really Craig? The actions of a FEW and you call the entire group treasonous? That is not rational thinking.
The Democrat Party was the party of SLAVERY.
The Democrat Party was the party of SECESSION.
The Democrat Party was the party of JIM CROW.
The Democrat Party was the party of SEGREGATION.
And you may claim that was all in the past. How naive!
Liberal Universities are holding race based graduation exercises. Separate but equal?
The Democrat Party upholds Margaret Sanger's vision of Black genocide through funding of the group she founded, Planned Parenthood.
First of all Carlos, it's Democratic Party. Second, all those long deceased Democrats of which you speak, were they alive today would be Republicans.
" Second, all those long deceased Democrats of which you speak, were they alive today would be Republicans."
Hallelujah and Praise the Lord! They have finally seen the light and renounced the Godless Democrat Party!
Carlos now the republicans are the party of treason and sedition. 400 to 500 people are going to do serious time, because the followed a con man blindly.
Craig Mason, for a person who claims to not be Democrat Liberal, you sure regurgitate their unsubstantiated propaganda with no problems.
Republicans the party of treason and sedition??? WRONG!!!!! WRONG!!! WRONG!!!!
Carlos,
You can’t rewrite history, most of those racist democrats left the party in the late fifties and sixties and joined the Republican Party, because they didn’t want to seat black delegates from the south. Save your BS rewrite and deflection.
Carlos, just because Craig calls a spade a spade when it comes to today’s Republican Party doesn’t automatically making him a left wing liberal. There are apolitical people in this world and there are centrists. Not everyone is on an extreme polar end of the political spectrum.
Heidi, those Democrats from the 50s and 60s are for the most part.... DEAD! Only a handful remain. Are you on drugs?
Robert> All these vaccines are experimental and all the side effects are unknown. In my 20's, 86 now, I got 3 flue shots from my employer. First produced aches and pain, second made me sick, third nearly killed me with weeks of hospital time. My DR. told me to never get another flue shot. Covid 19 vaccines are flue shots. Until my DR. says he thinks they are OK I will wait for better proof they are OK.
Exactly. That is why I am learning to fly. No Homeland Security.
Covid 19 shots are not flu shots. Flu shots have small amounts of dead virus in there for your immune system to learn how to recognize so it can fight it when you’re exposed to the virus naturally.
The Pfizer and Moderna is mRNA technology and contains no virus whatsoever. mRNA is genetic material that lives outside of the nucleus of a cell and creates proteins. The mRNA in the vaccine creates proteins that are the same spike like proteins on the outside of the covid 19 virus that acts as a lock and key mechanism to gain entry into snd infect your healthy cells.
When you’re injected with the mRNA vaccine, the genetic material doesn’t make the entire virus but only the spike proteins on the outside so your immune system can learn to recognize them. The proteins alone can’t make you sick. Again that’s just the entry protein for the entire virus.
Once your immune cells start recognizing this protein, your body goes into an immune response where your cells are killing these little harmless invaders. The immune response can cause fatigue, headache, chills and a low grade fever as body heat kills all bad bugs. That’s what you feel like crap. Because the immune system is working.
Meanwhile the mRNA that is injected into your body and is floating around freely degrades after making those proteins.
So the difference is you’re not getting any virus in your vaccine at all. mRNA doesn’t last in your body very long. The small foreign proteins created are simply to stimulate an immune response and are generally harmless unless there is a rare problem with your immune response (which they monitor you for).
There is a rumor that mRNA vaccines can change or alter your DNA. They can’t. DNA is made and stored in the nucleus of a cell. mRNA can not enter the nucleus of a cell. I hope this answers some questions about the vaccines. Go to cdc.gov if you’d like to learn more.
Oh I forgot, once your immune system learns to recognize those spike proteins, if you’re exposed to the actual virus your immune system will immediately say “I know you” and act before the virus can enter your cells. If you’re not vaccinated, the immune system can take too long to recognize there’s an invader, then ramp up, deploy and by the time they attack you have COVID already having set up camp in your healthy lining of your respiratory tract and heart muscle. Please consider investigating the vaccine more before you write it off completely.
Republicans have also used their "God-given intellect" to join the Trump cult.
There is no "Trump Cult" You forget, Donald Trump joined us, not the other way around.
Actually Carlos, I agree with you. Donald Trump, a master at branding and marketing but a failure in business operations and finance, saw the nativist, aggrieved cohort of the Republican Party and was able to tell them what they wanted to hear, thus building a base. Other Republicans joined on, enabling him to get elected to the highest office in the land. Without a willing bunch of followers he never would have succeeded.
"was able to tell them what they wanted to hear" No, he listened to us.
Carlos. he joined the party by running on your ticket but you all joined him when you voted for him over all of the other choices you had in the primary.
Donald Trump joined the Republican Party after finding Christ. You may not believe it.... but who cares? Christians recognize one of their own.
As for Joe, Nancy, etc.....
I heard this in a homily in a Catholic Church, if the media tries to convince you someone is a "Good Catholic" chances are that person is not. When the priest denied Joe Biden Communion there was a darn good reason for it.
Thank you so much for writing this letter. Yes, it is such a disgrace that Republican citizens are putting partisanship and political power before "normalcy" and the good of our country and its people. Boggles my mind and hurts my heart. What happened to decency, character, and true patriotism, i.e., placing the "common good" over person and party?
Maris still doesn't get it.
Maris> who decides your "common good"?
It is baffling that a member of the LEFT would dare ask a question like, "Why would Republicans try to sabotage the vaccine effort!" The reason is if it were not for GOD, working through President Donald J. Trump, there would be no vaccine period! The "PARTY OF SLAVERY" never gives up on deceit, deception, ans duplicity! They are forever seeking to pull the proverbial WOOL OVER SOMEBODY'S EYES!
Again Charles, stop rewriting history. The racists Democrats joined the Republican Party because they didn’t want to seat black delegates in the South.
I still don’t believe God was working through Donald Trump. Pfizer developed the mRNA technology in Germany with no assistance from Operation Warp Speed. More vaccines were developed and purchased under OWS but the thing is, it wasn’t God working through Trump. It was German technology.
But if you and others believe God gave the world the vaccine using Trump as His vehicle, then why aren’t more people like you willing to take it? You trust God and Trump right?
"it wasn’t God working through Trump" So now Heidi thinks she's now God's spokesperson?
Under the pre-Trump rules, regulations, red tape it would be years before a vaccine was developed.
Charles Douglas speaks from his experiences. Heidi Gordon posts from Liberal propaganda. Too bad she can't differentiate between fact and propaganda. But then again, most Liberals cannot.
Carlos I know you are vacated stop spending bs
There is no bs (Biden Stuff) from me!
Maris, those people have living amongst for years. They are the same reason that we got into this mess in the first place, by not caring about others and only themselves. But, they will also brag to you about having several months worth of survival food stored up, but wouldn’t think of sharing it with you if a disaster did happen. They are an every man for himself kind of guy, and your neighbor.
Ted> If you fail to plan for trouble why should you think my disaster plan should inclued you?
I told you they were out there Maris.
Don’t count on Gary to give you jump if your battery is dead or your car won’t start. Don’t expect him to help you fix that flat tire. Don’t expect him to donate to your school functions either. And if a hurricane happens and you are without power and Gary has his generator going, tuff luck, you should have prepared better!
Ted, both Gary and Maris are in their mid 80s. How about you about twenty years younger lending a hand? Oh, that's right... you're the plumber with home plumbing problems. Never mind!
Plumbers have plumbing problems at home. Mechanic's cars don't run. Electricians have loose circuits. After a long day working nobody feels like working more at home.
I’ll gladly bring them water next time they are waiting in line at election.
Just as long as you do not promote anyone running either in your attire, the water bottle or your oration inside the 100 ft. limit.
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