On Tuesday, President Biden stressed the importance of avoiding complacency with COVID-19 and outlined multiple strategies to encourage vaccination among hesitant Americans. One of the suggested strategies was door-to-door outreach in under-vaccinated communities – an innocuous idea that has suddenly become a political battleground for anti-science Republicans like Governor McMaster.
The South Carolina Governor called on DHEC to prohibit its leadership and local healthcare affiliates from using door-to-door tactics to promote vaccination on Friday, arguing that “a South Carolinian’s decision to get vaccinated is a personal one for them to make. Enticing, coercing, intimidating, mandating, or pressuring anyone to take the vaccine is a bad policy which will deteriorate the public’s trust and confidence in the State’s vaccination efforts.”
We sure hope the Governor didn’t hurt himself with that reach. Regardless, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki shot back, stating that “the failure to provide accurate public health information, including the efficacy of vaccines and the accessibility of them to people across the country, including South Carolina, is literally killing people.” She additionally clarified that door-to-door outreach would be conducted by “grassroots volunteers” rather than federal employees.
Governor McMaster’s unnecessary and childish fight with the Biden administration over vaccine outreach comes as South Carolina remains one of the least vaccinated states in the nation. Only 43.1 percent of residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, even as new strains of the virus continue to spread. In fact, experts predict that the Delta variant will become the state’s dominant strain within the next month.
For those who are already vaccinated, there’s no need to fear: the Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen vaccines are effective against the new strains of the virus. However, hospitalization and death are still a reality almost exclusively for South Carolinians who are unvaccinated.
With these facts in mind, the Governor’s delusion that grassroots volunteers encouraging their own neighbors to get vaccinated would somehow erode the public’s trust in the state’s vaccination efforts isn’t just foolish – it’s dangerous. You know what really deteriorates the public’s trust in the state’s COVID-19 response? Ending the state of emergency, discouraging mask-wearing, and forcing the premature reopening of schools in the midst of a deadly pandemic.
An organized, state-wide vaccine push with the support of Governor McMaster would literally save lives, but the GOP would rather play politics with the Biden administration instead. Just remember when Governor McMaster and his lackeys knock on your door next year and ask for your vote that your decision to vote is a personal one, and you won’t be enticed, coerced, intimidated, or pressured into voting for someone like him.