Mitt Romney calls out conservative media figures casting vaccine doubt: It's 'frankly moronic'
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) had some harsh words for conservative media figures who have been casting doubt on COVID-19 vaccines over the past few months while speaking to reporters Tuesday, per The New York Times.
"We don't control conservative media figures," Romney said. "I might have done better in 2012 if I did. That said, it's an enornmous error for anyone to suggest that we shouldn't be taking vaccines and the politicization of vaccination is an outrage and frankly moronic."
Romney issued a similar statement on Tuesday, when asked by HuffPost about attendees of last weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas who cheered when a speaker noted that the U.S. had not yet met the Biden administration's vaccination goals. "It's grossly misfortunate and a huge human cost to have made vaccination political," he told HuffPost. "After all President Trump and his supporters take credit for developing the vaccine, why the heck won't they take advantage of taking the vaccine they received plaudits for having developed?"
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
‘The problem isn’t creation itself’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America’ and ‘Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary’feature The culture divide in small-town Ohio and how the internet usurped dictionaries
-
How will tariffs affect shopping this holiday season?the explainer Prices may not be so holly jolly this year
-
Newsom slams Trump’s climate denial at COP30speed read Trump, who has called climate change a ‘hoax,’ declined to send any officials to this week’s summit
-
UK, Colombia halt intel to US over boat attacksSpeed Read Both countries have suspended intelligence sharing with the US over the bombing of civilian boats suspected of drug smuggling
-
Trump pardons 2020 fake electors, other GOP alliesSpeed Read The president pardoned Rudy Giuliani and more who tried to overturn his 2020 election loss
-
Supreme Court to decide on mail-in ballot limitsSpeed Read The court will determine whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day
-
Democrats split as Senate votes to end shutdownSpeed Read The proposed deal does not extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, the Democrats’ main demand
-
USDA orders states to ‘undo’ full SNAP paymentsSpeed Read The Trump administration is telling states not to pay full November food stamp benefits
-
Senate takes first step to end record shutdownSpeed Read Eight senators in the Democratic caucus voted with Republicans to advance legislation to reopen the government
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
