Washington, DC — This past week, Republican leaders pushed blatant misinformation and continued their legal attacks on vaccine requirements. By spreading lies and attacking science, Republicans are sacrificing the lives of their own supporters for political gain. Despite this, multiple Republican governors, including Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Texas’ Greg Abbott, have asked the federal government for more aid as Omicron surges through their states.
At the same time, President Biden has kept his promise to use every tool at his disposal to keep people safe and healthy. This week alone, the administration doubled its order of life-saving antiviral pills and the CDC approved boosters for teenagers. While Republicans do everything in their power to score political points at the expense of the health and safety of their own constituents, President Biden is working hard to lead us out of this pandemic.
“Republican leaders have abandoned their responsibility to protect Americans time and time again over the past two years, and it turns out 2022 is no different,” said Coronavirus War Room Director Nicole Haley. “From continuing to promote lies about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines to filing lawsuits against vaccine requirements, Republicans show that they will stop at nothing to score political points and get their clips on Fox News, damaging our response to coronavirus and slowing President Biden’s efforts to bring an end to this pandemic.”
Sen. Rand Paul (KY) Claims Majority of People In Hospitals Are Vaccinated. In a “Fox and Friends” interview, Rand Paul claimed that a majority of people in the hospital with Covid-19 are already vaccinated, even though unvaccinated people are 12 times more likely to be hospitalized than those who are vaccinated. Paul said, “This is Dr. Fauci’s fault largely because he’s still hysterically talking about mandates and shutting people down and not letting people fly and blaming the unvaccinated. Everybody’s getting this, vaccinated and unvaccinated. In fact the majority of the people in the hospital are vaccinated.”
Gov. Greg Abbott (TX) Tells Texas National Guard to Ignore Vaccine Mandate. Texas Governor Greg Abbott filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the requirement that members of the National Guard be vaccinated. In a letter to the Texas National Guard, Abbott said President Biden was “not your commander-in-chief” and vowed to “not tolerate efforts to compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine.”
Gov. Ron Desantis (FL) Badmouthes Vaccines While Pushing for Unproven Treatments Against Omicron. In his first news conference since the Omicron variant began surging across his state, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis badmouthed vaccines while pushing for unproven treatments against the mutated pathogen. “With Omicron, you know, the vaccinations are not preventing infection,” DeSantis said.
Sen. Ron Johnson (WI) Downplays Vaccines Against Natural Immunity, Asking Why We Think We Science Could Make Something Better That Works Better Than God. Appearing on the Vicki McKenna radio show, Senator Ron Johnson asked, “Why do we think that we can create something better than God in terms of combating disease? Why do we assume that the body’s natural immune system isn’t the marvel that it really is?”
Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) Plans to Introduce a Bill Overturning a Vaccine Requirement for DC Public Schools. Senator Ted Cruz said he plans to introduce a bill overturning a vaccine requirement for DC public schools. DC already requires students to be vaccinated against a number of diseases, but Cruz said, “The school board has no right to force you to get your five-year-old vaccinated. If you want to vaccinate your kid, vaccinate your kid. But if you don’t want to, who are these petty authoritarians trying to make this decision for you?”
Republican Lawmakers Signed a Brief Urging the Supreme Court to Block OSHA’s Vaccine or Test Requirement. Republican lawmakers picked politics over science once again, as nearly all Republican senators and representatives signed onto a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to block OSHA’s vaccine or test employer rule. OSHA’s standard is an essential component of America’s strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic by requiring more than 84 million private-sector workers to become fully vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.