Campaigns and Vaccines
With less than 60 days until Election Day, it’s becoming more and more obvious that both sides are pulling out all the stops in their respective campaigns. Now, I’ve never pretended to be politically neutral; I’m a bleeding heart liberal and I’m not afraid to say it. But, that said, it doesn’t take a stone-hearted genius to figure out that many of the recent revelations in the news (Michael Cohen’s book, for example) have been strategically timed to influence voters. I’m not saying it makes the other side correct or morally justified at all, I’m just saying it’s all part of the political game, and it’s bound to get ever more nauseating right up until Nov. 3.
As an American who was in grade school when Ronald Reagan took office, I am very much numb to all the mudslinging, low blows, and “strategery” that go on as part of our proud election process. But when lives hang in the balance, and when people are desperate for some kind of answer to the pandemic that has infected at least 6 million Americans, killed 190,000 of us so far, and kills about 1,000 more each day, the Trump campaign aka the Federal Government has reached a new low. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), once somewhat reputable among the international scientific community but now under direct authority of the White House, has given the misleading and spectacular open instruction to state and local governments to “ready themselves” to distribute a vaccine “as early as October”.
Now, this should be easy enough to identify as a Trump campaign stunt and utter bullshit, for anyone with half a brain who is halfway paying attention to the news. The oh-so-coincidental timing to match that of the Presidential election, combined with the fact that the World Health Organization has approved exactly zero vaccines for distribution (7 are in the large-scale phase 3 trials, but these are exercises with 12+ month timeframes, not a couple or even 6 months long), make it obvious to any normal person that the instruction was meant to influence voters who might have been on the bubble, and not a necessary mandate for that particular timeframe.
But these are not normal times. People are tired, desperate for an end to COVID-19, and most importantly, fearful and hungry. They are simultaneously hungry for a return to the maskless, crowd-friendly “normal” world and fearful that there won’t be any such return. They don’t want to accept that change is happening, some of the change is permanent, and most of the change is actually the right thing to do. The Trump campaign aka the Federal Government gives people an outlet for their hunger and their fear of change through ridiculous announcements like the CDC’s.
Some people may ask, “What’s the harm in this?” Some may point out that it’s never a bad idea to be ready, and that people are free to read into the CDC’s instructions whatever they want to. But with COVID-19, misinformation carries a huge potential for deadly harm. People in this country are already in denial and resisting state orders to wear masks and practice social distancing. If they are led to believe a vaccine is right around the corner, they will be even less likely to practice prevention, and much more likely to spread the virus at accelerating rates.
People are tired and scared, but they need to hear the truth. Science. They need to hear that despite how much the Federal Government has failed them wearing masks works. Staying at home works. Distancing works. There will be a vaccine but not this year. Until 200+ million Americans get vaccinated we need to flatten the curve by doing the things that work, not by buying into baseless belief in some quick fix.
Bike Newbie 