The White House has been toying with everyone for quite some time now. We would love to believe that there is a method to the madness here but we are not sure. Maybe the White House is trying to establish low expectations so that they are able to more easily clear that bar later.
The daily vaccination targets tell the whole story.
Biden wanted 1 million shots to be distributed each day during the first 100 days of his term. The Trump administration was handling this just fine but people don’t like facts.
Jen Psaki is also making bold claims about the school re-openings. If she is right about her projections, schools should be able to open for in-person instruction for at least one day per week by the end of April.
Again, we were already on pace to achieve that goal. At first, the goal was to have achieved herd immunity by the time fall rolled around.
Now, they are already backtracking on this goal and making all of the excuses ahead of time. Anyone who is expecting a return to normalcy by the time fall arrives is apparently mistaken.
The goalposts have shifted once again, as we are now expected to achieve herd immunity by November. Again, this might be a way for the new administration to temper expectations.
If they under-promise and over-deliver, people are sure to be much happier over the long haul. This is probably giving them a bit too much credit, however.
The Democrats are not exactly known for their forward-thinking ways. Herd immunity is also going to be a very tough nut for this country to crack, for a lot of reasons. Achieving that goal this year might be a bit too ambitious but no one tells them that.
“Top members of President Joe Biden’s COVID response team are warning internally that the U.S. may not reach herd immunity until Thanksgiving or even the start of winter—months later than originally calculated—according to two senior administration officials.
“In an interview with CBS News this week, Biden hinted at some of these concerns, saying it would be “very difficult” to reach herd immunity—a population-wide resistance to the virus—“much before the end of the summer” with the current daily rate of approximately 1.3 million vaccine doses.
“Other top officials working on the federal government’s COVID-19 response say they are uneasy about vaccine supply long term and the impact on herd immunity, and have begun to explore ways to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity, potentially through new partnerships with outside pharmaceutical firms,” the Daily Beast reports.
If supply concerns were the sole issue, it would be easier to have faith. This is an issue that can be fixed with relative ease, in most instances. The problem that we are really going to be fighting is all of the variants.
We are going to need to reach a higher level of collective immunization before we are truly safe. The variants are the real problem here and the Democrats seem oblivious to it.
Booster shots are going to be provided, which should serve as some small comfort to many. That does not mean that the variants won’t be given the chance to wreak havoc in the meantime.
That’s why all of the mainstream media news outlets who are responsible for carrying the Democrats’ water are not going to want anything to do with the previous expectations. They need to re-frame the story to their benefit.
The CDC is also using this opportunity to tell Americans that they need to double up on their mask-wearing. When the goalposts keep shifting like this and there is no end in sight, we won’t be surprised when patience finally wears thin.
New YouGov/The Economist poll today: 28% of Americans say they won’t get vaccinated for covid-19, including 39% (a plurality) of Republicans and 14% of Dems. Under half (42%) of Americans say they will get the vaccine (53% if you remove “not sure”).https://t.co/UKqYJWPXo5 pic.twitter.com/sPGjZtD2EI
— G. Elliott Morris (@gelliottmorris) February 10, 2021
30 percent of Americans do not want the vaccine, according to the latest Gallup poll. Herd immunity is probably quite a long way off under these current circumstances.