National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it is “disturbing” some supporters of former President Donald Trump are unwilling to get the coronavirus vaccine.
Anchor Chuck Todd asked, “I want to talk about vaccine. He has hesitancy here. We are seeing a bigger divide by politics. We talked about it earlier. For instance, among Trump voters, 47% have said they’ll not be vaccinated, 30% say yes, and half Republican men say they’re not going to take this vaccine. You have the PSA with all the former presidents except one, President Trump, in there. Do you think he needs to be enlisted here at all toll get his voters to take this vaccine?”
Fauci said, “Chuck, I hope he does because the numbers that you gave are so disturbing, how such a large proportion of a certain group of people would not want to get vaccinated merely because of political consideration. It makes absolutely no sense, and I’ve been saying that for so long.”
He added, “We’ve got to dissociate political persuasion from what’s common sense, no-brainer public health things. The history of vaccinology has rescued us from smallpox, from polio, from measles, from all of the other diseases. What is the problem here? This is a vaccine that is going to be l for millions of people. How some groups would not want to do it for reasons that I just don’t understand. I don’t comprehend what the reasons for that is when you have a vaccine that’s 94% or 95% effective, and it is very safe. I don’t get it.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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