Gov. Ron ‘DeathSantis’ Wants To Be The Anti-Vaxxer-In-Chief

Just in time for the holidays, if you haven’t already noticed, “A ‘tripledemic’ of the coronavirus, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, known as R.S.V., currently sweeping through the United States has prompted several cities and counties … to encourage people to wear a mask in indoor public spaces once again.” It’s Time to Wear a Mask Again, Health Experts Say:

Nationwide, Covid-19 case rates and hospitalizations have spiked by 56 percent and 24 percent, respectively, over the past two weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there have already been 13 million illnesses and 7,300 deaths from flu this season, and those numbers are expected to rise in the coming months. (Over the past decade, annual flu deaths have ranged from 12,000 to 52,000 people, with the peak in January and February.) And while R.S.V. finally appears to be on the decline, infection rates are still high across much of the country.

Here in Arizona:

#Influenza & RSV are still off-the-charts high but #RSV appears to have finally turned the corner.#COVID & Influenza admissions are also finally trending down.

Mask up in crowds 😷 get your COVID booster & flu shot and order more free COVID tests here ➡️https://t.co/XcSEWGxX0L pic.twitter.com/Y2KQaao77p

— Will Humble 🌏 (@willhumble_az) December 15, 2022

The Washington Post adds, How a viral siege is making some people sick for weeks, even months (currently behind a paywall).

This country was founded  during the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, and now, despite almost daily scientific advances, a large number of Americans are trying to drag us back into the Dark Ages of ignorance, fear and superstition (conspiracy theories). They are the anti-science, anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers.

The New York Times reports, Opposition to School Vaccine Mandates Has Grown Significantly, Study Finds:

For generations of most American families, getting children vaccinated was just something to check off on the list of back-to-school chores. But after the ferocious battles over Covid shots of the past two years, simmering resistance to general school vaccine mandates has grown significantly. Now, 35 percent of parents oppose requirements that children receive routine immunizations in order to attend school, according to a new survey released Friday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

See: ARIZONA GUIDE TO IMMUNIZATIONS REQUIRED FOR ENTRY: Child Care, Preschool, or Head Start (School year 2022-2023).

All of the states and the District of Columbia mandate that children receive vaccinations against measles, mumps, rubella and other highly contagious, deadly childhood diseases. (Most permit a few limited exemptions.)

Oh, great. Just what we need, outbreaks of measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), chickenpox, diptheria and pertussis (whooping cough), on top of Covid and seasonal flu. This year saw a Spate of polio outbreaks worldwide: including a case of polio-related paralysis in New York City, “the first such U.S. case in nearly a decade. But wastewater samples … suggest that the virus is circulating more widely.” What’s next, do you ignorant fools want to bring back smallpox too?

Throughout the pandemic, the Kaiser foundation, a nonpartisan health care research organization, has been issuing monthly reports on changing attitudes toward Covid vaccines. The surveys have showed a growing political divide over the issue, and the latest study indicates that division now extends to routine childhood vaccinations.

Forty-four percent of adults who either identify as Republicans or lean that way said in the latest survey that parents should have the right to opt out of school vaccine mandates, up from 20 percent in a prepandemic poll conducted in 2019 by the Pew Research Center. In contrast, 88 percent of adults who identify as or lean Democratic endorsed childhood vaccine requirements, a slight increase from 86 percent in 2019.

The survey found that 28 percent of adults overall believed parents should have the authority to make school vaccine decisions for their children, a stance that in the 2019 Pew poll was held by just 16 percent of adults.

The shift in positions appears to be less about rejecting the shots than a growing endorsement of the so-called parents’ rights movement. Indeed, 80 percent of parents said that the benefits of vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella outweighed the risks, down only slightly from 83 percent in 2019.

“The talking point that has been circulated is the concept of taking away parents’ rights,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on infectious diseases. “And when you frame it that simply, it’s very appealing to a certain segment of the population. But what about the right to have your children be safe in school from vaccine-preventable diseases?”

Still, Dr. O’Leary said that he wasn’t overly worried that school vaccine mandates would be lifted but that the growing embrace of parents’ rights might further slow compliance with state-required immunization schedules, a timeline that has long been endorsed by pediatricians.

The latest survey was based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,259 adults and was conducted from Nov. 29 through Dec. 8.

Phillip Bump of the Washington Post says The deadly viral pandemic has been a boon to the anti-vax movement.

This anti-science, anti-masker and anti-vaxxer movement on the right just led Congress to repeal the Covid-19 vaccine requirement for military personnel. Congress Clears Military Bill Repealing Vaccine Mandate for Troops:

The Senate on Thursday gave final approval to an $858 billion military policy bill that would rescind the Pentagon’s mandate that troops receive the coronavirus vaccine, defying President Biden’s objections and sending to his desk a bill that paved the way for a massive increase in spending on the military.

Seriously?  “The DoD already administers 17 different vaccines to service members—outlined in the “Joint Regulation on Immunization and Chemoprophylaxis for the Prevention of Infectious Diseases.” These are the mandatory vaccinations that all service members are required to receive before initial entry or basic training. Full List of Vaccines Mandated by the U.S. Military.

Do these anti-science, anti-vaxxers want to repeal these DoD mandatory vaccinations as well, and put our military preparedness at risk?

But the most obscene and reckless act this week is by Gov. Ron “DeathSantis” of the Fascist state of Florida. Since Donald Trump wants to take credit for his “Project Warp Speed” to develop the Covid-19 vaccine (it was already in development), Gov. “DeathSantis” wants to run to his right to pander to the anti-science, anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers in the GQP crazy base. DeSantis calls for grand jury to investigate Covid-19 vaccines:

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday asked the Florida Supreme Court to empanel a grand jury to investigate “wrongdoing” linked to the Covid-19 vaccines, including spreading false and misleading claims about the efficacy of the doses.

Most of the medical community, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FDA and Johns Hopkins, have emphasized that the Covid vaccine is safe and effective in preventing the virus and protecting against serious symptoms.

But DeSantis said during a live-streamed round table discussion with [quack doctor] Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo that it’s against Florida law to mislead the public, especially when it comes to drug safety. He sought to undermine the efficacy of the Covid vaccine and claimed that vaccine manufacturers such as Moderna have made a fortune on Covid-19 mandates.

“I think people want the truth that I think people want accountability,” DeSantis said. “You need to have a thorough investigation into what’s happened with the shots.”

In a petition to the state Supreme Court asking for the grand jury, the DeSantis administration said that the “pharmaceutical industry has a notorious history of misleading the public for financial gain” and the grand jury will probe “the development, promotion, and distribution of vaccines purported to prevent COVID-19 infection, symptoms, and transmission.”

DeSantis’ announcement was the latest in an ongoing war between his administration and the Biden administration — and the broader medical community — over the pandemic. [And positioning himself against Trump in the GQP primary.] DeSantis has built a national reputation fighting against Covid-related mandates such as vaccine requirements or schools ordering students to wear masks. The Biden administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Along with his [quack doctor] surgeon general, DeSantis has rejected vaccines for young children even after the FDA gave approval for the vaccines in kids under 5. Florida was the only state in the nation to not re-order vaccines for children ahead of the FDA’s fast-tracked approval.

In response to DeSantis, Sharon J. Castillo, a Pfizer spokesperson, wrote in an email that Pfizer’s vaccine has been approved by regulatory agencies across the world.

“These authorizations are based on robust and independent evaluation of the scientific data on quality, safety and efficacy, including our landmark phase 3 clinical trial,” Castillo wrote. “Data from real world studies complement the clinical trial data and provide additional evidence that the vaccine provides effective protection against severe disease.”

Officials with Moderna did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During Tuesday’s roundtable, [quack doctor] Ladapo also announced the creation of the Public Health Integrity Committee, which will offer guidance to the public on treatment options for Covid. The committee will also critique guidance released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“People feel like they’re beholden to the CDC,” Ladapo said during the round table discussion. “We will be issuing recommendations that make sense and are scientifically valid.”

So the fascist state of Florida is seceding from the U.S., and will become the disinformation clearinghouse for the anti-science, anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers? Vladimir Putin and his Internet Research Agency (troll farm) dezinformatsiya must be thrilled. I’m sure anti-vaxxer Elon Musk wants to get in on “catapulting the propaganda” as George W. Bush once called it. Everyone who dies from their disinformation is blood on their hands.

[Quack doctor] Ladapo also announced plans to launch a study on people who died of cardiovascular problems after they received the vaccine. Ladapo had released a study looking at heart issues and the vaccine in October that was panned by many in the medical community for lacking evidence and analysis. This study will include coordination with the state’s 25 regional medical examiner’s offices and the University of Florida, and it will determine whether people have died from heart complications created by the vaccine.

DeSantis and [quack doctor] Ladapo recently began focusing on the mRNA vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna. Both products went through the approval process set by federal health care regulators, and [quack doctor] Ladapo has warned that placing such a rush on science is dangerous. He was one of more than 20 medical experts (sic) who signed a petition in June 2021 asking the CDC not to give final authorization to the two vaccines, which the federal agency rejected.

[T]he round table was also joined by Harvard epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff and Stanford University medical professor Jay Bhattacharya. Kulldorff and Bhattacharya authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for the elimination of most Covid restrictions and the adoption of herd immunity. [Quack doctor] Ladapo has also picked them to serve on the Public Health Integrity Committee along with five other experts also chosen by him.

Paul Krugman says Ron “DeathSantis” is setting himself up to be the anti-vaxxer-in-chief. Will 2024 Be a Vaccine Election?

Will Republicans once again nominate Donald Trump for president? Or will they turn to Ron DeSantis instead? I have no idea.

What I do know is that anyone imagining DeSantis as a more sensible, saner figure than Trump — a right-wing populist without the reality-denying paranoia — is delusional. DeSantis hasn’t gone down all the same rabbit holes as Trump, but he has gone down some of his own, and his descent has been just as deep.

Above all, DeSantis is increasingly making himself the face of vaccine conspiracy theories, which have turned a medical miracle into a source of bitter partisan division and have contributed to thousands of unnecessary deaths.

Let’s back up and talk about the story of Covid-19 vaccines so far.

In the spring of 2020 the U.S. government initiated Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership intended to develop effective vaccines against the coronavirus as quickly as possible. The effort succeeded: By December 2020, far sooner than almost anyone had imagined possible, vaccinations were underway. (I received my first shot the next month, on Jan. 28, 2021.) And yes, this was a success for the Trump administration.

Have the vaccines worked? And how. There are multiple ways to evaluate their lifesaving effect, but I’m especially taken with a simple approach promoted by the analyst Charles Gaba, who looks at the correlation across U.S. counties between vaccination rates and Covid death rates. Between May 2021, when two-dose vaccinations first became widespread, and September 2022 the least-vaccinated 10 percent of counties suffered a death rate more than three times as high as the most-vaccinated.

Now, you may have heard that at this point deaths among vaccinated Americans are exceeding those among the unvaccinated, which is true. But that’s partly because most deaths are among the elderly, who are overwhelmingly vaccinated; very few Americans have received no shots; and not enough vaccinated people are getting booster shots.

But why are some U.S. counties so much less vaccinated than others? The answer, as Gaba shows, is partisanship: There’s a startlingly close relationship between the share of a county’s voters who supported Trump in 2020 and the percentage of that county’s residents who haven’t received their shots — and the percentage who have died from Covid.

You can, by the way, see the same patterns at the level of whole states. For example, although New York was hit hard in the first months of the pandemic (before we knew how the coronavirus spread or what precautions to take), since May 2021 more than twice as many people have died of Covid in Florida than in New York. Even taking Florida’s slightly larger and much older population into account, that’s thousands of excess deaths in the Sunshine State.

Yet why should vaccination be a partisan issue?

Right-wing [nihilist] opposition to lockdowns and social distancing in the early stages of the pandemic made at least some sense, since these public health measures involved requiring that people make some sacrifices to protect other people’s lives. (Some might say that such trade-offs are what civilization is all about, but whatever.) Even mask mandates required accepting a bit of inconvenience, at least partly for the sake of others.

But getting vaccinated is mainly about protecting yourself. Why wouldn’t you want to do that?

The immediate answer is the widespread belief on the right that the vaccines have terrible side effects. This belief is hard to justify: If it were true, shouldn’t there be a lot of evidence for such claims, given that more than 13 billion doses have been administered worldwide?

Ah, but the usual suspects claim that sinister elites are suppressing the evidence. Which brings us back to DeSantis, who announced on Tuesday that he was forming a state committee to counter federal health policy recommendations — and asking for a grand jury investigation into unspecified “crimes and misdemeanors” related to coronavirus vaccines.

OK, I doubt that anyone believes that DeSantis knows or cares about the scientific evidence here. What he’s doing instead is catering to a Republican base that equates listening to experts, on public health or anything else, with “wokeness,” and demonizes anyone saying things it doesn’t want to hear.

As far as I can tell, DeSantis hasn’t joined the likes of Elon Musk in calling for the prosecution of Anthony Fauci, who led America’s Covid response. But he has called Fauci a “little elf” and said that we should “chuck him across the Potomac.” (Presidential!)

Now, will DeSantis’s attempt to position himself as the leader of the anti-vax movement and give at least tacit approval to conspiracy theories actually endear him to the Republican base? Again, I don’t know. Even if it does, I suspect that it will hurt him in the general election if he does become the nominee: Vaccine paranoia and Fauci hatred are still niche positions in the electorate at large.

But anyone who imagines that replacing Trump with DeSantis as the G.O.P.’s leader would signal a party on its way to becoming sane again is in for a rude shock.

2024 is a stark contrast between pro-democracy, pro-education and pro-science Democrats, and anti-democracy, anti-education, anti-science Republicans – a scientific age of Enlightenment versus the return to the Dark Ages of ignorance, fear, and superstition. This should be an easy, obvious choice.