USA: The Unvaccinated Pandemic

The vaccination target is a long way off, the number of infections is rising steeply: In the USA, the government is increasing advertising for the vaccination. But the injection against the virus has long since become part of the political culture war.

The “impacts” have now arrived at the White House: Almost in passing, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed that a high-ranking member of the government had tested positive for Corona. The person had only mild symptoms because they had been vaccinated twice. And the White House is prepared for more such cases.

The delta variant is spreading rapidly in the USA. The director of the highest health authority, Rochelle Walensky, presented worrying figures: The delta proportion of new infections is now 83 percent, at the beginning of July it was 50 percent. “That is a dramatic increase,” said the doctor, “and it is even significantly higher where the vaccination rate is low”.

Corona has long since become a pandemic for the unvaccinated in the United States. In the past two weeks alone, according to the New York Times, the number of newly infected people has skyrocketed by 198 percent. At his cabinet meeting, President Joe Biden expressed concern. Almost all Covid deaths and all cases in the hospital were unvaccinated, emphasizes the President and repeats the sentence urgently: “Almost all of these cases are unvaccinated people!”

Advertising in all places

Leaves! To you! Vaccinate! This has been the mantra for weeks. The US chief virologist Anthony Fauci shot Instagram posts with pop star Olivia Rodrigo last week and promoted the Piks as “Fauci-Ouchi”. Vaccination advertisements appear in TV spots, they are stuck on buses and in shop windows.

But the Covid vaccination, as easy as it feels to get on almost every street corner, has long been a partisan propaganda instrument. Democrat = vaccinated, Republicans (and even more Trump supporters) = unvaccinated. In many states, that’s the simple equation.

Hannity surprised

A TV statement by Sean Hannity on the conservative channel Fox News is all the more impressive. Hannity, actually a staunchly conservative and ardent fan of Trump, suddenly approves of the vaccination: “Please take Covid seriously!”, He appeals, “too many people have died, I believe in science and vaccination.” That of all people, Hannity Saying something like that amounts to a sensation in the US media world.

It shows how serious the situation is in the United States. So far, not even half of the states have achieved the vaccination rate of 70 percent targeted by Biden. It’s a race against time.