Just what this country needs, another reason for division. Regardless, vaccinated Americans are losing patience with those unvaccinated, according to The Washington Post.
Biden administration officials increasingly frame the current outbreak as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” seeking to persuade and perhaps even frighten some holdouts to get the shots. But after months of careful cajoling, a growing number of Democrats and Republicans are venting about the sheer number of Americans who remain unvaccinated, particularly as hospitals are becoming overwhelmed in states with low vaccination rates.
On Thursday, Alabama GOP Gov. Kay Ivey told a reporter, “it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated.
Former GOP speechwriter David Frum writes in the Atlantic
In the United States, this pandemic could’ve been over by now, and certainly would’ve been by Labor Day. If the pace of vaccination through the summer had been anything like the pace in April and May, the country would be nearing herd immunity. With most adults immunized, new and more infectious coronavirus variants would have nowhere to spread. Life could return nearly to normal.
…Reading about the fates of people who refused the vaccine is sorrowful. But as summer camp and travel plans are disrupted—as local authorities reimpose mask mandates that could have been laid aside forever—many in the vaccinated majority must be thinking: Yes, I’m very sorry that so many of the unvaccinated are suffering the consequences of their bad decisions. I’m also very sorry that the responsible rest of us are suffering the consequences of their bad decisions.
As it stands today, only 68% of Americans have received one dose of the vaccine, and the delta variant is tearing through communities of those who refuse the shot(s).
“I think for a lot of leaders, both in government and in business, patience has worn thin. There is an urgency that might not have been there a month ago.”
Matt Gorman GOP Strategist to The Washington Post