In an all-too-rare display of pandemic-era leadership, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen received the new Pfizer coronavirus vaccine in front of cameras on Friday morning.
“We gather here today at the end of a historic week to affirm to the American people that hope is on the way,” Pence said after his shot. “Karen and I were more than happy to step forward before this week was out to take this safe and effective coronavirus vaccine that we have secured and produced for the American people. It’s truly an inspiring day.”
It’s the least he could do.
Back in June, in a shamefully misguided Wall Street Journal essay, Pence derided the idea that the country was heading for a “second wave” of infections, and blamed news organizations for fear mongering.
“The media has tried to scare the American people every step of the way,” he wrote, “and these grim predictions of a second wave are no different …. We’ve slowed the spread, we’ve cared for the most vulnerable, we’ve saved lives, and we’ve created a solid foundation for whatever challenges we may face in the future. That’s a cause for celebration.”
Those were lies. There was certainly no cause for celebration. He owes an apology to every reporter on the COVID beat.
On the day his essay ran, public health officials reported nearly 25,000 new cases of COVID-19. Since then, the number of new daily cases has never dropped. It has climbed steadily, and on Wednesday, it reached a record 245,000 new cases in a single day.
On the day his essay ran, more than 100,000 Americans had already died of COVID-19. By the time he got his vaccination, 311,000 Americans were dead, and there is no end in sight to the carnage.
Surveys offer conflicting data about vaccine willingness. A new Kaiser Health Foundation survey found that 71% of respondents said they would definitely or probably get a vaccine. However, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey taken around the same time found that only half of U.S. residents say they want to get vaccinated as soon as possible. A quarter say they aren’t sure, while the rest say they don’t want it. In the AP-NORC survey, 53% of white respondents said they would get the vaccine, 34% of Latino respondents said they would, and only 24% of Black respondents would.
The skepticism among people of color is understandable. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who received the Pfizer vaccine along with the Pences, acknowledged the importance of outreach to those communities, alluding to the federal government’s infamous Tuskegee experiments, where Black patients infected with syphilis thought they were receiving free medical care, but instead were left untreated, used as guinea pigs for doctors who wanted to observe the disease’s natural progression.
“As I said this morning,” Adams, who is Black, tweeted later, “it’s not only okay to have questions about a medical treatment or vaccine — it’s normal and expected. What’s NOT okay is letting misinformation or mistrust lead you to make a poor decision for YOUR health!”
