“These people never took the new coronavirus seriously and had even denied the fact that there was a surge in cases, so why don’t health care workers get the shot instead?”
The controversy over unfair vaccine distribution has played out many times across the U.S. since the official approval of the emergency use authorization for the vaccine.
The Washington Post said Republican officials who never followed prevention and control guidelines during the outbreak, and administrators in the healthcare structure who did not work in related jobs were given priority for the New Crown vaccine, “while frontline health care workers miles away were still waiting in the wings.”
Who got the shot first?
According to the Washington Post, Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted a photo of his vaccination and thanked the nurse who gave it to him on 20 local time, prompting an outcry from U.S. netizens.
Kelly Bushlett, president of the South Carolina Nurses Association, called Graham’s vaccination a “slap in the face” to nurses and other medical professionals who are still waiting for their shots.
“It’s shocking that these people never took the new coronavirus seriously and even denied the fact that there was a surge in cases, so why don’t health care workers get the shot instead?”
Thousands of people tweeted angrily that Graham had refused to be tested for the virus ahead of his re-election debate and refused to postpone the hearing on Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination. “Even if he had been exposed to people infected with the new coronavirus at the hearing, he would not have been eligible for the vaccine.”
In addition to Graham, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, became the fourth governor to be vaccinated on the air. But he refused to take preventive and control measures to curb the spread of the virus during the outbreak. In May, he was the first U.S. governor to decide to have his city unsealed, directly leading to Texas becoming one of the deadliest places in the U.S. for the spread of the outbreak.
At least a quarter of the senators have now reportedly been vaccinated. The angry American public cannot understand how the same group of Republicans who have high-profile violations of vaccination rules and remain forever silent as Trump spreads misinformation about the virus are running to the front of the line when it comes to vaccinations.
A White House official, who asked not to be named, told The Washington Post that the officials received the vaccines from an unknown source, not from grants provided to the states, but that they were “individually allocated by themselves and the details are confidential.
Who hasn’t been vaccinated?
According to the CDC’s previously announced vaccination program for the new crown, the highest priority for vaccination in the first phase is given to health care workers in major hospitals across the United States, and to older adults living in long-term care facilities; followed by those aged 75 and older, firefighters, police officers, postal workers and other front-line workers; followed by those aged 65 to 74, those aged 16 to 64 with potential health risks, and other non-front-line essential workers.
Only after all of these groups have been vaccinated will the vaccination move on to the second phase, which is for those 16 years of age and older who are not in the first phase.
Georgetown University Hospital shows a vial of coronavirus vaccine
Last week, a Georgetown University Hospital internal medicine resident in Medesta reportedly watched in dismay as dozens of government officials began vaccinations, including lawmakers who refused to wear masks and Trump administration officials who have single-handedly contributed to the worsening of the outbreak today, while her hospital received fewer than 1,000 doses of the vaccine.
Last week, U.S. Congressman Brian Monahan, the attending physician, urged every member of Congress to get vaccinated immediately, citing the need to ensure the continuity of government policy and to be able to function smoothly during a crisis.
But Scott Halpern, an internist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, countered that there is no evidence that vaccinating government officials promotes public trust in vaccines. These excuses don’t explain why general officials should get priority.
“Get your doctors and nurses vaccinated, and that will really build confidence.” One doctor, who asked not to be named, said, “Health care workers are important enough to deal with the spread of the epidemic, but no one wants us on the front lines of vaccination.”
Even U.S. Senator Rand Paul, the first person to contract the new coronavirus, felt that the vaccine was distributed unfairly. He tweeted that it was inappropriate to vaccinate before older Americans and health care workers, and that “healthy young people like Rep. Cortes, 31, should be last in line, not first.”
“The darkest days are yet to come.”
According to real-time statistics from Johns Hopkins University, as of press time, there are more than 18.45 million confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the U.S. and more than 326,000 deaths.
At a press conference on 22 local time, Biden warned that “the darkest days of the epidemic are yet to come, we are averaging close to 3,000 deaths per day, we will lose thousands more lives in the next few months, and a vaccine will not stop this.”
Biden admitted that “it will take a lot of time to vaccinate 320 million Americans,” and he hopes the American people will continue to be vigilant during the Christmas holidays.
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