A Biden administration that vowed to restore Americans’ faith in public health has grown increasingly paralyzed over how to combat the resurgence in vaccine skepticism.
And internally, aides and advisers concede there is no comprehensive plan for countering a movement that’s steadily expanded its influence on the president’s watch.
The rising appeal of anti-vaccine activism has been underscored by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s insurgent presidential campaign and fueled by prominent factions of the GOP. The mainstreaming of a once-fringe movement has horrified federal health officials, who blame it for seeding dangerous conspiracy theories and bolstering a Covid-era backlash to the nation’s broader public health practices.
But as President Joe Biden ramps up a reelection campaign centered on his vision for a post-pandemic America, there’s little interest among his aides in courting a high-profile vaccine fight — and even less certainty of how to win.
“There’s a real challenge here,” said one senior official who’s worked on the Covid response and was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “But they keep just hoping it’ll go away.”
The White House’s reticence is compounded by legal and practical concerns that have cut off key avenues for repelling the anti-vaccine movement, according to interviews with eight current and former administration officials and others close to the process.
In Australia, I’d suggest that anyone that isn’t vaccinated and is hospitalised because of it should pay out of pocket and spare the tax payer. But as usual, they’re all anti vax and anti science/medicine until they’re dying then they’re making a scene in the hospital demanding everyone’s attention.
In Australia we have significant consequences for being antivax.
You don’t get the childcare subsidy, and good luck finding a childcare that will take your kids.
You can’t work in healthcare, aged care, childcare and many other sectors and it’s been validated in court that employers can dismiss employees who don’t reasonably get vaccinated when required.
Additionally, during the pandemic antivaxxers were essentially excluded from pretty much all public life and the Australian public was perfectly content with that. The Australian population was 95% vaccinated at the peak, you can’t get 90% of Australians to agree on anything, if 60% of the population supported not eating shit 40% of the population would start eating shit but we all agreed that antivaxxers can get fucked.
“I was alive and breathing before I came here, and now you’re telling me I’m dying and my lungs are filling/filled with fluid?!”