COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire in Alabama. Cases are up tenfold from the beginning of July and 1,848 people are currently hospitalized because of the virus, the highest number since Feb. 2.
The state’s ICU beds are at 93% capacity. 95% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, according to the Alabama Hospital Association.
Yet, the state’s best defense against the pandemic is literally going to waste. On Friday, Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris announced that 65,000 of the state’s vaccines have expired. He called it a “shame.”
Alabama has the lowest vaccination rate in the country with just 34.61% of the population fully inoculated.
Incredibly, that’s a point of pride among some conservative Alabamans. Last month, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) appeared at a fundraiser in the state. When she said, “I hear Alabama might be one of the most unvaccinated states in the nation,” the crowd responded with cheers.
The Alabama Political Reporter provides more details on Greene’s appearance:
Greene also said that President Joe Biden would be sending “one of his police state friends” to knock on Alabamians’ doors and ask about their COVID-19 vaccination status, saying that because of Alabama’s love of the Second Amendment, “they might not like the welcome they get.”
Greene’s statements about Biden’s COVID-19 federal surge response teams mischaracterized what those teams do, however. Those teams are currently working in states that have low vaccination rates, and who ask for the help, by providing personnel to help track outbreaks, expanding testing and help promote messaging for the need to get vaccinated.
In a piece for The Daily Beast, an immunocompromised man from Mobile described his frustration with the state’s tepid COVID-19 response:
Those around me generally eschew masks, even in crowded rooms. They demand everything continue in a pre-pandemic manner with no mask or vaccination mandates. Open schools. Flout caution. March everyone into epidemiological machine-gun fire. Politicians catered to the insanity by prohibiting private businesses from enforcing their own measures.
He added, “People here pride themselves on stereotypes of hospitality, grace, and conscientiousness. I guess COVID-19 will kill that myth, too, since those who genuinely care about others don’t spread death through inaction.”
Last month, Alabama’s Republican Governor, Kay Ivey, told reporters, “It’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the vaccinated folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.”
She added, “I’ve done all I know how to do. I can encourage you to do something, but I can’t make you take care of yourself.”