Name: Trump Country Is Finding a Way to Screw Up America’s Vaccine Rollout
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Trump Country Is Finding a Way to Screw Up America’s Vaccine Rollout

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Think back, for a moment, to this time last year: Much of the United States was still in lockdown as coronavirus, still such a dangerous unknown, tore through the populace. Officials had only recently begun to encourage Americans to wear face masks, and orders mandating their use in public places had yet to take effect. Every day brought fresh horror, exacerbated by political leadership that was already proving itself nowhere near up to the task at hand and a prevailing sense of uncertainty not only as to when this would all be over, but if.There are a lot of ways—too many—in which April 2021 looks like April 2020. Caseloads remain dangerously high, even as we know far more about the virus than we did twelve months ago. We’ve still yet to return to normal, or even “normal,” though we’re getting closer. And politics continues to infect the public response to the health crisis, even though Donald Trump is no longer in office. But there is one big way that things are very different: We now have, in the vaccines, a clear off-ramp out of the pandemic. Millions of Americans have taken it, with now having received at least one of their shots—a cause for hope and a credit to Joe Biden, who continues to exceed his vaccination targets. But tempering that optimism is what appears to be a mounting obstacle to reaching herd immunity: An apparent unwillingness, or hesitancy, on the part of many Republicans to take their pokes.“The fact that one may not want to get vaccinated, in this case a disturbingly large proportion of Republicans, only actually works against where they want to be,” Anthony Fauci on CNN Sunday. “They want to be able to say these restrictions that are put on by public health recommendations are things that they’re very concerned about. But the way you get rid of those restrictions is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly and as efficiently as possible.”The U.S. on Monday opened up vaccine eligibility to all Americans over the age of 16—a milestone that could further increase the pace of vaccinations. “For yourself, your neighbors, and your family,” Biden , “please get your vaccine.” But have suggested around a quarter of Americans—and nearly half of Republicans—are not planning to get vaccinated, which could complicate the country’s quest for herd immunity and potentially prolong the pandemic. It could also leave vaccine-skeptical residents of pro-Trump counties, which a New York Times found to lag behind in shots administered, even more vulnerable to a virus and its dangerous variants that the former president routinely downplayed as . “These are people who were fed untruths about how this virus wasn’t real,” Dr. Lisa Cooper, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity, told the Times. “I think it is carrying through in the vaccination realm, too.”To be sure, this isn’t only a Republican problem—and the issues at play might include not only vaccine hesitancy, but vaccine access. Moreover, as Axios , there may be a danger, in pointing fingers, of the shot becoming even more politicized. “What I’m really worried about,” Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, told the outlet, “is building up this identity of, ‘if you’re a Republican, you don’t want the vaccine.’” But that already seems to be happening: As the Times reports, while states press for more doses, some Trump counties continue to have more supply than demand. “It pains me to think that the governor of Michigan is begging for vaccines,” one Wyoming health official told the Times. “And we’ve got vials and vials in our freezer.”The task, then, might not be preventing the vaccines from getting swept up in America’s partisan culture war, but extricating them from it. To that end, the administration is mobilizing a , seeking to win over conservatives, as well as some minorities who have been given reason to be wary of the medical establishment. “What we are doing is we’re trying to get, by a community core, trusted messages that anyone would feel comfortable listening to, whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat, an independent, or whomever you are,” Fauci said in an ABC News interview Sunday. Whether they can convince enough of the vaccine-hesitant to push the country over the 70% to 90% mark to bring about herd immunity will depend on how much the partisan lines have calcified.More Great Stories From Vanity Fair&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— of an OnlyFans Model and Her Über-Wealthy Boyfriend— Wyoming Tells Donald Trump Jr. to — A Is Upending the Hamptons Social Order— How a Group of Rich Memphians During Capitol Attack— Prosecutors Are in Trump Investigations— Republicans Brave Plan to Stop Mass Shootings: — of Female Journalists Puts News Outlets to the Test— Six Photographers Share Images From — From the Archive: , the Ballad of Richard Jewell— Serena Williams, Michael B. Jordan, Gal Gadot, and more are coming to your favorite screen April 13–15. Get your tickets to here.Most Popular is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He lives in Chicago.The freshest-and most essential-updates from Washington, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley.

Think back, for a moment, to this time last year: Much of the United States was still in lockdown as coronavirus, still such a dangerous unknown, tore through the populace. Officials had only recently begun to encourage Americans to wear face masks, and orders mandating their use in public places had yet to take effect. Every day brought fresh horror, exacerbated by political leadership that was already proving itself nowhere near up to the task at hand and a prevailing sense of uncertainty not only as to when this would all be over, but if.There are a lot of ways—too many—in which April...

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Writer. Contributor at VFHive. Words at GuardianUS, RollingStone, newrepublic, and more. Email: eric.david.lutz@gmail.com

Eric Lutz

Vanity Fair is a monthly magazine of popular culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast in the United States.  The first version of Vanity Fair was published from 1913 to 1936. The imprint was revived in 1983 and currently includes five international editions of the magazine. As of 2018, the Editor-in-Chief is Radhika Jones.

Trump Country Is Finding a Way to Screw Up America’s Vaccine Rollout

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