While statistics show that Republicans are not getting vaccinated at the same rate as Democrats, a lot of prominent Republicans in Congress have encouraged their constituents to get the vaccine. Back in March, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said “I can stand here as a Republican man, as soon as it was my turn, I took the vaccine. I would encourage all Republican men to do that…. Take the vaccination.” Unfortunately, a fellow Republican Senator is doing his best to undermine that message.
Ron Johnson told a radio host, “I see no reason to be pushing vaccines on people.”
The Wisconsin senator went on to say: “What do you care if your neighbor has one or not?”
MSNBC’s Steve Benen writes:
To the extent that the senator’s question wasn’t rhetorical, Johnson might care whether his neighbors are vaccinated because he doesn’t want them to get sick, die, or put others at risk. Even if the senator is indifferent to his neighbors’ wellbeing, Johnson might well care about local hospitals and morgues being pushed to the breaking point — a problem many communities have confronted since the start of the crisis.
He also might want to care about reaching herd immunity.
The question is whether Johnson’s controversial views will hurt him next year as he runs for re-election. HuffPost reports:
American Bridge, the liberal Super PAC that spent more than $84 million during the 2020 presidential election cycle, blasted out Johnson’s comments to its email list.
“More people will get COVID and die due to Ron Johnson’s comments yesterday,” said American Bridge 21st Century spokesperson Zach Hudson. “He’s a disgrace and Wisconsin can’t get rid of him soon enough.”