Republicans Continued Their Quest to Prolong the Pandemic in Order to Score Political Points
This week, Republicans continued their work to derail any efforts to get America back on track. By downplaying tools like vaccines and boosters and opposing common sense measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, Republicans continue to play to the most extreme elements of their base, prolonging the pandemic all to score political points.
As CPAC enters full swing, we should expect to hear the same deranged political posturing exhibited by Republicans throughout the COVID-19 crisis. The only Republican policy plan released to date, by Senator Rick Scott, says nothing about health care or COVID-19. It’s clear they have no plan to help Americans move past the pandemic. In fact, new data shows that use of unproven treatments popular among GOP politicians were unsurprisingly higher in Republican counties, even though multiple studies show these treatments are useless against COVID-19. Republicans must be held accountable for promoting these treatments that don’t work instead of life-saving vaccines, all to prolong the pandemic and score political points.
The Florida Senate confirmed Dr. Joseph Ladapo to serve as the surgeon general of Florida. Appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis, Dr. Ladapo has downplayed vaccines, refused to wear a mask when meeting with a lawmaker who was undergoing treatment for cancer, and promoted quack treatments. He’s perfectly in line with his boss’ views of the pandemic, making him a dangerous choice for surgeon general and the health of Floridians.
DeSantis also spoke at CPAC, where he unsurprisingly repeated the same brags and lies about Florida’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci and condemning the “scientific and technical elite.” If DeSantis spent less time focused on his political future and more time listening to the so-called “scientific and technical elite” (aka doctors and scientists), he could’ve prevented needless suffering and death across Florida.
Senator Ron Johnson penned a piece with a prominent anti-vax figure, blaming the government for “many unnecessary deaths” and ignoring that unvaccinated people are the ones who are overwhelmingly becoming seriously ill and dying from COVID-19. People are suffering because of the misinformation spread by Senator Johnson, and rather than accept numerous studies on vaccine safety and effectiveness, he decided to double down on his misinformation. Also this week, Johnson disgustingly compared Canadian anti-vaccine protestors to victims of the Holocaust. He must be held accountable for these vile accusations and comparisons.
Elsewhere, instead of allowing communities in Texas to set their own rules around masks, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued a suburb of Dallas for choosing to keep a mask mandate in place. Similarly, Governor Ron DeSantis continues to punish schools financially for making their own decisions around measures designed to stop the spread of COVID-19.