COVID Misinformation? Dems Ought to Look At Themselves First

For months, the media and the Democratic Party have accused President Donald Trump and his administration of downplaying the coronavirus, of using racist smears to shift the blame to China, of having mixed messaging on the importance of mask-wearing, and of – this is what it boils down to – basically being responsible for the deaths of 200,000 Americans.

But if Democrats are so concerned about spreading misinformation about the pandemic, they should take a close look at themselves before worrying about the president. We’re not even talking about Nancy Pelosi urging people to come down to Chinatown in San Francisco in February. We’re not even talking about Joe Biden saying back then that Trump was being “xenophobic” by closing down travel from China. We’re not even talking about the astounding hypocrisy seen from Democrats who ruthlessly criticized anti-lockdown protesters as disease vectors before turning right around and praising Black Lives Matter activists.

All those are bad enough, but what we’re really talking about is the party’s disturbing, reckless, unacceptable fearmongering about the imminent vaccine.

At the end of last month, CDC Director Robert Redfield announced to state governors that a vaccine could be ready for roll-out as early as November 1. He instructed governors all around the state to prepare their medical facilities for an imminent rollout, and he said that pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Corporation is ready to send out hundreds of millions of doses this fall. In explaining the situation, Redfield asked for an all-hands-on-deck approach. In other words, if governors have bureaucratic red tape – unrelated to the safety of the vaccine – standing in the way, now is the time to cut it and make sure this vaccine can get to the public as soon as possible.

The Democrats, of course, immediately politicized the whole thing, claiming without evidence that the Trump administration was trying to rush a not-ready-for-primetime vaccine to Americans ahead of the election. This message has been parroted – loudly and repeatedly – by Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, both of whom have said, in so many words, that Americans should not “trust” this administration to deliver a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine.

At a time when the public’s declining trust in government is only outstripped by the public’s declining trust in the media, it is the height of irresponsibility for these Democrats to go out and tell people that the vaccine is not safe. Politicizing a pandemic was ridiculous from the get-go, but now it has become truly dangerous. And if Democrats – including Biden – are going to go this route, then they will take on the responsibility of every COVID death that occurs after the vaccine is publicly available.