“Unvaccinated Americans, disproportionately Republican Fox viewers, are fueling the surge.” — Brianna Keilar, cnn host, on Twitter, 8/9/21

“The U.S. vaccination campaign started strong, then hit a wall of right-wing obstinance… [M]isinformation peddlers … conned millions of Americans — Southerners, Westerners, and conservatives, mostly — into believing vaccines were part of some liberal plot.” — The Daily Beast, 8/15/21

“Certainly, the Republican Party has been delinquent in embracing the science that people need to be vaccinated.” — Nancy Pelosi, quoted in The Hill, 7/28/21

And then Francis Collins, the National Institutes of Health director, had the gall to go on George Stephanopoulos’ show to bemoan that “the notion of vaccination remains so politicized.” Because, he said, “vaccines should never be political.” Particularly as a virus is killing people.

Dr. Collins, the left side of the aisle has politicized and weaponized the coronavirus from the get-go. And now you’ve got the entire national media, one of the two major national political parties, and all the health agencies working overtime to pump out a completely bogus narrative that Americans are sick and dying due to conservatives supposedly refusing to get vaccinated. Anyone who can stand to watch cnn for three minutes will be told that Trump voters are the root cause of covid-19.

Par for the course, since the left blames Donald Trump for everything. Border mess? Trump’s fault. (The immigration system “was broken when we took office,” says Jen Psaki.) Afghanistan disaster? Trump’s fault. (“I inherited a deal cut by my predecessor,” claims Biden.) So of course covid is Trump’s fault — and the fault of his supporters. Biden’s political opposition is, conveniently, the scapegoat for all his own fiascos.

Thus the coronavirus characterization by the Biden Regime morphed from “a pandemic of the unvaccinated” (it’s not) to “a pandemic caused by conservatives” (it’s not). Neither is true. As Ronaldus Magnus said, “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” Is there skepticism amongst right-leaning Americans? Absolutely. And suspicion amongst traditional Democrat constituency groups. The Biden team earned every bit of that, by never giving the straight story about anything.

To counter their propaganda, let’s look at the data, shall we? This is not an assessment of the efficacy of the covid-19 vaccines, for which you should consult your doctor, but a reminder that nothing you have been told about this virus — from its China origins to its domestic political exploitation — has been the truth. Always test the evidence. Follow the science, as the saying goes:

UNVACCINATED DEMOCRATS

Young People. “New covid-19 Hospitalizations for 30- to 39-Year-Olds at Record Rate: Group largely avoided hospitals earlier in pandemic, but highly contagious Delta variant and lagging vaccination rates have changed health outcomes… Nationally, slightly less than half of those ages 25 to 39 are fully vaccinated, compared with 61 percent of all adults, cdc data show.” — The Wall Street Journal, 8/14/21

• “College social life is a breeding ground for the Delta variant… Just 44.9 percent of Americans 18-24 have had both shots, according to the cdc.” — Politico, 8/10/21
• “The Young and Secular Are Least Vaccinated, Not Evangelicals.” — ReligionUnplugged.com, survey finding that only 47 percent of those with no religious affiliation are vaccinated compared to 62 percent of evangelicals, 8/3/21
• “Pelosi and White House blame Republicans for fueling spread of covid but fewer than half of young people and 36 percent of black people have had shots while 92 percent of older Americans are jabbed.” — The [UK] Daily Mail, 7/31/21
• “Youngest Adults Are Least Likely to Be Vaccinated, and Their Interest in Shots Is Declining, cdc Finds.” — The Washington Post, 6/21/21
• African Americans. “Maryland boasts one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, with nearly 79 percent of the adult population having gotten at least one dose. But not in zip code 21853… Fewer than 3 out of 10 people in this majority-black community have gotten at least one vaccine dose.” — The Washington Post, 8/14/21
• “Why Only 28 Percent of Young Black New Yorkers Are Vaccinated: As the Delta variant courses through New York City, many young black New Yorkers remain distrustful of the vaccine.” — The New York Times, 8/12/21
• “In a Blue State and County, Black and Latinx Residents Have Lower Vaccination Rates as covid Cases Mount.” — Willamette Week [Portland, OR], 8/11/21
• “Black people, with low vaccination rates, stand to be shut out disproportionately by mandates.” — Yahoo News, 8/10/21
• “[C]ommunity leaders and health advocates are pleading for black Americans to get vaccinated… They are launching campaigns, planning and promoting more vaccine clinics, and even partnering with hair salons and barbershops with hopes of reaching more black people who remain skeptical about the shot… Black Americans are the least vaccinated demographic group, according to the Centers for Disease Control, which estimates that 25 percent of the black population in the U.S. is fully vaccinated.” — cnn, 8/8/21
• “[T]he unvaccinated include large swaths of disadvantaged groups, like minorities and working poor, not just ideological anti-vaxxers.” — The New York Times, 8/4/21
• “I can’t point to Fox News as the reason that my relatives won’t get vaccinated… [That] has no bearing on why millions of mostly left-leaning black Americans — and more than half of black Californians — remain unvaccinated.” — Erika D. Smith, columnist, The Los Angeles Times, 7/28/21
• “By early July 2021, nearly two-thirds of all U.S. residents 12 years and older had received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine; 55 percent were fully vaccinated. But uptake varies drastically by region — and it is lower on average among non-white people.” — pbs, 7/8/21
• “The vaccination rate for black people is less than 50 percent in 39 of 42 reporting states, including 19 states where less than a third of black people have received one or more doses.” — Kaiser Family Foundation, 8/4/21
• “A racial divide persists in the nation’s vaccination campaign, with federal figures showing counties with higher percentages of black residents having some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.” — The Washington Post, 6/27/21
• “Black People Lag in covid Vaccinations Even in Predominantly Black Areas.” — Axios, 6/27/21
• “There’s a reason why it’s been harder to get African Americans, initially, to get vaccinated, because they’re used to being experimented on, the Tuskegee Airmen and others. People have memories. People have long memories. It’s awful hard as well to get Latinx vaccinated as well. Why? They’re worried that they’ll be vaccinated and deported.” — Joe Biden, video via The Daily Caller, 6/24/21
• “Biden’s Vaccine Push Fails to Gain Traction with African Americans.” — Politico, 6/7/21
• Hispanics. “Addressing Vaccine Fears as Latinos Fall Behind in covid-19 Vaccinations.” — abc News, 8/13/21
• “Why Have So Many Latinos Still Not Gotten Vaccinated for covid-19? Latinos still lag far behind other groups … even as the more contagious Delta variant spreads.” — Arizona Republic, 8/11/21
• “Black and Hispanic people have had persistently lower rates of vaccination compared to their white counterparts across most states… [L]ess than half of Hispanic people have received a covid-19 vaccine dose in 35 of 40 reporting states, including 13 states where less than a third have received at least one dose.” — Kaiser Family Foundation, 8/4/21
• “Thus far, 47 percent of whites are vaccinated, and 62 percent of Asians, but Hispanics sit at a much lower 39 percent, and blacks at an even lower 34 percent.” — Breitbart, citing cdc numbers, 7/20/21
• “Racial Disparities in covid-19 Vaccination Rates Persist as Delta Variant Gains Steam.” — The Hill, on hampered inoculation efforts in “black and brown [i.e., Hispanic] communities,” 7/8/21
• “covid Vaccination Rates Lag in Latino Communities Nationwide.” — nbc News, 6/17/21​
• Illegal Aliens. “Amid rising infections, the Biden Administration has stepped up efforts to vaccinate immigrants in U.S. government custody against the coronavirus, but thousands of detainees have refused vaccination, according to federal data shared with Congress…” — cbs News, reporting that 6,000 detainees have declined the vaccine, 8/13/21
• “Of those [illegal aliens] not deported … Border Patrol released at least 40,000 people into the U.S. who tested positive for covid-19.” — Just the News, 8/13/21
• “President Biden ‘is letting all these people in knowing they have covid,’ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Fox News. ‘They are being dropped off all over the country. I was talking to some Dallas police officers. They watched … a couple of buses unload in downtown Dallas in the middle of the night. These people just disappeared. Many of them have covid. And to be lectured about masks and vaccines by the Administration, to be told when you are out of the country and a U.S. citizen, you can’t come back if you have covid, is hypocritical.” — Just the News, 8/13/21
• “Forty Percent of Migrants Released in Texas Border City [Laredo] Test Positive for covid-19, Officials Say.” — Yahoo News, 8/11/21
• “The city of McAllen, TX says the federal government has released over 7,000 covid positive migrants into their city since February, including over 1,500 new infected migrants in just the last week alone. A local state of disaster in McAllen has been declared.” — Fox News, on Twitter, 8/4/21
• “Police in La Joya, TX say they’ve learned illegal immigrants who test positive for covid-19 are being released from federal custody to a local Catholic charity … which then places them in local hotels without notice.” — Fox News, on Twitter, 7/27/21
• “30 Percent of Immigrants in ice Custody Have Refused a Coronavirus Vaccine.” — Axios, 7/15/21
• “covid on the Border: Migrants Aren’t Tested on Arrival in U.S.: The Border Patrol says it has insufficient time and space to conduct coronavirus testing at crowded processing stations. Officials in border cities fear further spread of the virus.” — The New York Times, 4/28/21
• “Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admits migrants are being released into the U.S. without being tested for covid-19 at the border — but won’t say how many.” — The [UK] Daily Mail, 3/18/21
• Liberals “Delinquent in Embracing the Science.” “I’m not that confident… You’re going to say to the American people now, ‘Here’s a vaccine, it was new, it was done quickly, but trust this federal Administration and their health administration that it’s safe, and we’re not 100 percent sure of the consequences?’ I think it’s going to be a very skeptical American public about taking the vaccine, and they should be.” — then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D, NY), abc News, 10/19/20
• “If Donald Trump tells us that we should take it, I’m not taking it.” — Kamala Harris, on covid-19 vaccine, during debate, Business Insider, 10/7/20
• “Who on God’s earth would trust a vaccine approved by the [Trump] fda??” — Joy-Ann Reid, msnbc host, on Twitter, 9/17/20
• “When we finally do, God willing, get a vaccine, who’s going to take the shot? Who’s going to take the shot? Are you going to be the first one to say, ‘Sign me up, they now say it’s okay’?” — Joe Biden, incredulous, during campaign, wkmg Orlando, 9/2/20
• “Past Vaccine Disasters Show Why Rushing a Coronavirus Vaccine Now Would Be ‘Colossally Stupid.’” — cnn, on the dangers of the Trump fda issuing an Emergency Use Authorization [eua] for a covid-19 vaccine, 9/1/20
• “If and when the vaccine comes, it’s not likely to go through all the tests that need to be done, and the trials that are needed to be done.” — Joe Biden, Yahoo News, 8/6/20

MOVING THE GOALPOSTS

• Fading Effectiveness. “There’s been an accumulation of data on showing in the real-world effectiveness of the vaccines. It is even better than in the clinical trials, well over 90 percent protecting you against disease, number one. Number two, a number of papers have come out in the past couple of weeks showing that the vaccine protects even against the variants that are circulating.” — Anthony Fauci, on cbs’ “Face the Nation,” 5/16/21
• “You’re not going to get covid if you have these vaccinations.” — Joe Biden, cnn town hall, 7/22/21, whitehouse.gov
• “Our vaccines are working exceptionally well. They continue to work well for Delta with regard to severe illness and death; they prevent it. But what they can’t do anymore is prevent transmission.” — Dr. Rochelle Walensky, cdc director, cnn, 8/6/21
• “A new … study found the Pfizer vaccine was only 42 percent effective against infection in July, when the Delta variant was dominant. ‘If that’s not a wakeup call, I don’t know what is,’ [said] a senior Biden official…” — Axios, 8/11/21
• “We’re seeing a lot more spread in vaccinated people,” agreed Scripps [Research Institute’s] Eric Topol, who estimated that the vaccines’ efficacy against symptomatic transmission, which he estimated to be 90 percent or above for … all previous variants, had fallen to about 60 percent for Delta. “That’s a big drop.” Later, he suggested it might have fallen to 50 percent… On [8/11/21], a large pre-print study published by the Mayo clinic suggested the efficacy against infection had fallen as far as 42 percent.” — New York magazine, 8/12/21
• “Researchers at Israel’s Ministry of Health have said that the Pfizer vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing infection fell from 95 percent early in the year to 39 percent from late June to mid-July.” — The New York Times, 8/14/21
• Breakthrough Infections Are Super Rare. “Vaccinated People Can Get covid, but It’s Most Likely Very Rare.” — The New York Times, 3/23/21
• “Breakthrough covid-19 Cases Remain Extremely Rare in the U.S.” — Forbes, 5/26/21
• “We’re seeing that it is very unlikely that a vaccinated person, even if there’s a breakthrough infection, would transmit it to someone else.” — Anthony Fauci, on cbs’ “Face the Nation,” 5/16/21
• “covid-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Cases Are Extremely Rare… The rate of breakthrough cases reported among those fully vaccinated is well below 1 percent in all reporting states.” — Kaiser Family Foundation, 7/30/21
• “Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the cdc’s director … has repeatedly said that breakthrough infections are extremely rare. But the agency does not tally national figures on breakthrough infections that don’t result in hospitalization or death… The exact incidence of these infections, as well as their outcomes, is unknown.” — The New York Times, 8/11/21
• Breakthrough Infections Are Pretty Rare. “Experts Say Not to Worry as Rare Instances of ‘Breakthrough’ covid-19 Cases Pop Up Across U.S.” — 8NewsNow.com, 3/24/21
• “Rare ‘Breakthrough’ covid Cases Are Causing Alarm, Confusion.” — AP, 7/21/21
• “A New York Times analysis of data from 40 states shows that fully immunized people accounted for less than 5 percent of hospitalizations and less than 6 percent of deaths from covid-19.” — The New York Times, 8/11/21
• “According to … leaked cdc documents, there were, as of late [July 2021], 35,000 symptomatic breakthrough cases being recorded each week — about 10 percent of the country’s total.” — New York magazine, 8/12/21
• “While breakthrough cases certainly do happen, they remain a small minority of overall cases — at least for now.” — Dr. Kent Sepkowitz, infectious disease expert, quoted by cnn, 8/15/21
• Breakthrough Infections Aren’t That Rare. “Tennessee Experiences 27 Deaths in More Than 1,000 ‘Breakthrough’ Cases Among Vaccinated Individuals.” — The Tennessee Star, 7/25/21
• “49 People Who Were Fully Vaccinated Have Died of covid in NJ.” — NJ.com, 7/25/21
• “Breakthrough covid Infections in Fully Vaccinated People Aren’t So Rare, cdc Says.” — cnet.com, 7/30/21
• “Bloomberg identified more than 100,000 vaccine breakthroughs.” — Bloomberg, “cdc Scaled Back Hunt for Breakthrough Cases Just as the Delta Variant Grew,” 7/30/21
• “When you look at the level of virus in the nasopharynx of people who are vaccinated who get breakthrough infections, it’s really quite high, and equivalent to the level of virus in the nasopharynx of unvaccinated people who get infected.” — Anthony Fauci, quoted in The Hill, 8/1/21
• “Israel’s covid-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Cases Exceed 50 Percent.” — Israeli Health Ministry covid-19 data dashboard, PrecisionVaccinations.com, 8/11/21
• “Now we’re starting to see that these cases are really causing illness in vaccinated people. And I think we’re probably under-diagnosing, or under-reporting a lot of it. I think breakthrough cases are probably very high, relative to what we’re detecting at the moment. I think it is much more serious than the cdc has been until very recently willing to suggest. And that’s because they wanted to stay on message.” — Michael Mina, Harvard epidemiologist, New York magazine, “Don’t Panic, But Breakthrough Cases May Be a Bigger Problem Than You’ve Been Told: Current public-health messaging may understate the scale and risk,” 8/12/21
• Breakthrough Infections Are Good! “If you get through a breakthrough infection relatively unscathed, you are likely to walk away with more robust protection against variants. The infection essentially acts as a booster shot, researchers say, strengthening your immune system’s ability to recognize and fight the virus.” — The New York Times, 8/11/21
• “Iceland is one of the most vaccinated countries in the world. But that didn’t stop the tiny island nation from catching a whole lot of covid… [E]xperts … said that Iceland’s recent surge in infections … is probably a sign that herd immunity is within reach over there. What’s happening in Iceland … might be one of the final stages in the long, often painful process by which a country achieves some form of population-level herd immunity… Icelanders are so highly vaxxed … that a few thousand cases, mostly mild, could push the population into herd immunity any day now.” — The Daily Beast, 8/15/21

VACCINATED SUPERSPREADERS

• P’Town. “[A] study, published by cdc [7/30/21], describes 469 Massachusetts residents who were infected in a July outbreak in Barnstable County, which includes the summer vacation destination Provincetown. No deaths were reported among them. About 74 percent — or 346 cases — had been fully vaccinated. Of those cases, 79 percent reported symptoms. Genetically sequenced cases revealed the Delta variant as the main culprit. The researchers found evidence that viral loads were similar among 127 fully vaccinated people and 84 others who were unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, or whose vaccination status was unknown. Viral load is a proxy for how likely someone might be to transmit the virus to others.” — cnn, 7/30/21
• “Provincetown’s outbreak … would grow to more than 1,000 people… Infections were concentrated among younger men as they flocked to signature summer events like Bear Week, part of gay culture for guys on the huskier and hairier side.” — The Washington Post, 8/5/21
• San Fran. “At least 233 staffers at a pair of San Francisco hospitals have tested positive for covid-19, the majority of whom were fully vaccinated but became infected with the Delta variant. Fifty-five cases were discovered among staff members at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital as of July 31… Of those who tested positive, roughly 75 to 80 percent were fully vaccinated… The [ucsf] Medical Center said 183 staff members had tested positive as of Friday; 153 of whom were fully vaccinated.” — The Hill, 8/1/21
• Gibraltar. “Fully-Vaxxed Gibraltar Sees 2,500 Percent Spike in covid-19 Cases Per Day, Initiates New Lockdowns.” — Big League Politics, 8/4/21
• England. “New figures from Public Health England say nearly 35 percent hospitalized with covid-19 had received two doses of a vaccine.” — Sky News, 8/6/21
• “Fully Vaccinated May Transmit Delta Just as Easily — and New Variant Shows Signs of Vaccine Evasion — Early UK Research Suggests.” — Forbes, 8/6/21
• Israel. “covid in Israel: Third Day in a Row With Over 5,700 New Cases, 421 in Serious Condition.” — Haaretz, 8/12/21. About 85 percent of Israeli adults have been vaccinated.
• The Martha. “At least 74 people on Martha’s Vineyard have tested positive for covid-19 since Barack Obama’s maskless 60th birthday bash — the most cases on the island since April.” — The [UK] Daily Mail, 8/13/21
• Iceland. “The island nation that has been praised for its coronavirus response and its world-leading vaccination rate [71 percent fully inoculated] is now seeing its highest levels of infection since the start of the pandemic… And U.S. authorities last week warned Americans to stay away… But … infectious disease experts say Iceland’s outbreak actually illustrates how effective the vaccines are at preventing the virus’ most severe impacts.” — The Washington Post, 8/15/21
• Global. “The cases are everywhere. New York Yankees players who were vaccinated have covid-19. An nfl coach who was vaccinated has covid-19. Olympic athletes who were vaccinated have covid-19. Texas Democrat lawmakers who were vaccinated have covid-19. The White House is hiding a large outbreak of covid-19 among their vaccinated staffers. In Singapore, 75 percent of the new covid-19 cases are among the vaccinated. In Israel, the government admits a majority of new covid-19 cases are among the vaccinated. In the United Kingdom, the government admits a large share of covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are vaccinated. A UK aircraft carrier has more than 100 covid-19 cases on board, even though every one of them has been vaccinated. In Cape Cod, MA there is a large covid-19 outbreak among the vaccinated. Five were hospitalized. Four of those five were vaccinated. In California, the most dramatic rises in covid-19 cases are found in the most vaccinated counties. At Stanford University, there is an outbreak of covid-19 among vaccinated students.” — Townhall, 8/1/21
• “The [cdc] recently updated its list of riskiest countries for travel due to growing pandemic waves associated with [covid-19] and variants… Interestingly, a recent review of this list reveals most of the countries ranked high on the Johns Hopkins list of the most vaccinated continue to be categorized by the cdc as ‘high’ or ‘very high’ in association with the risk of travel due to covid-19… [I]n most cases: heavily vaccinated nations experience considerable waves of sars-CoV-2 infection growth. This clearly evidences mass breakthrough infections.” — TrialSiteNews, 8/9/21
• Jab and Spread. “With the Delta variant … the level of virus in infected vaccinated people is ‘indistinguishable’ from the level of virus in the noses and throats of unvaccinated people, [cdc’s Dr.] Walensky said.” — AP, 7/27/21
• “Breaking News: The Delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and may be spread by vaccinated people as easily as the unvaccinated, an internal cdc report said.” — The New York Times, 7/30/21
• “Not only is the Delta variant more contagious, health officials now believe it more readily causes symptomatic — and contagious — illness in vaccinated people. That meant that unlike with previous variants, vaccinated people are more likely to spread the disease more easily to unvaccinated individuals or those who are vaccinated but vulnerable because of their age or health.” — Bloomberg, 7/30/21

With all the chaotic mixed messages and ever-changing mandates from these inept, insufferable, prevaricating authoritarians, we’re in for a long covid haul, marked by ongoing hectoring from them. They’re already salivating over their next “public health” mission: boosters.

Dr. Fauci says “inevitably” everyone will need covid vaccine booster shots — “sooner or later.” As in this month. But when he was asked how long such a booster might help protect from covid-19, Dr. Fauci was coy: “We don’t know the answer to that… We are humble, we are modest about it.” Humble? This is the guy who claims that anyone who criticizes him is actually attacking “science”! No, he won’t be modest. He and his ilk will be handing down booster decrees. And you can bet your bottom dollar that when the boosters fail to live up to their hype, they’ll blame you. Again.

Cartoon ©2021 Pat Cross patcrosscartoons.com; Photos: Biden photos: ©2021 Shutterstock/Ken Cedeno/UPI; Cuomo: ©2021 Shutterstock/Uncredited/AP; Fauci: ©2021 Shutterstock/Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images; Walensky: ©2021 Shutterstock/Jim Lo Scalzo/UPI