During his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Biden urged Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19. But one expert thinks he left an opportunity to encourage vaccination on the table.
Dr. Leana Wen, a physician and CNN medical analyst, wrote a Washington Post op-ed arguing the president "missed his biggest opportunity to reduce vaccine hesitancy" with the address, pointing to the fact that there were a limited number of attendees in the House chamber, and they still wore masks and maintained physical distance.
"If I didn't know better, I would have thought this was six months ago, before Americans had access to safe, highly effective vaccines," Wen wrote.
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.
While Wen can "understand the need for caution," she's concerned a "very damaging narrative is taking hold" that there's no reason to get vaccinated given that there are still "so many precautions" for those who do.
Others might counter that this was appropriate because the CDC is continuing to recommend both vaccinated and unvaccinated people avoid large crowds. Wen, though, also takes issue with the CDC's "overly-cautious" guidelines, urging the agency to "clearly distinguish between events in which anyone can attend and events that allow only those fully vaccinated."
Wen argued that if lawmakers were required to be fully vaccinated to attend the speech but were then permitted to remove their masks and sit side-by-side like they might have pre-pandemic, this could have "sent an unequivocal message that vaccines are safe, effective and the key to ending the pandemic."
Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist, echoed Wen's sentiments, writing that "we have to start putting our money where our mouth is in signaling, messaging, modeling the effectiveness of the vaccines." Read the full op-ed at The Washington Post. Brendan Morrow
-
Political cartoons for October 26Cartoons Sunday’s editorial cartoons include Young Republicans group chat, Louvre robbery, and more
-
Why Britain is struggling to stop the ransomware cyberattacksThe Explainer New business models have greatly lowered barriers to entry for criminal hackers
-
Greene’s rebellion: a Maga hardliner turns against TrumpIn the Spotlight The Georgia congresswoman’s independent streak has ‘not gone unnoticed’ by the president
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shotSpeed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
