A sound bite reexamined: 'Pandemic of the unvaccinated'
(A disclaimer for those who will see the source as ABC news and for whatever ideological reasons are against anything that is posted from there, "fake news" etc., this is an AP Press article that is posted to numerous news sources of many different political, social, and religious and anti-religious ideologies.)
Some excerpts - highlights mine
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WASHINGTON -- This summer’s coronavirus resurgence has been labeled a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” by government officials from President Joe Biden on down.
The sound bite captures the glaring reality that unvaccinated people overwhelmingly account for new cases and serious infections, with a recent study of government data showing that hospitalization rates among unvaccinated adults were 17 times higher than among those fully vaccinated.
But the term doesn’t appear to be changing hearts and minds among unvaccinated people. And it doesn’t tell the whole story, with some breakthrough infections occurring among the fully vaccinated. That's led health officials to recommend a return to masks and a round of booster shots.
“It is true that the unvaccinated are the biggest driver, but we mustn't forget that the vaccinated are part of it as well, in part because of the delta variant,” said Dr. Eric Topol, professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. “The pandemic clearly involves all people, not just the unvaccinated.”
Topol points to Louisiana, where data from the state suggest that nearly 10% of hospitalized patients are vaccinated.
Branding it “a pandemic of the unvaccinated” could have the unintended consequence of stigmatizing the unvaccinated, he added. “We should not partition them as the exclusive problem,” Topol said.
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Calling it a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” is “just provocative,” said Robert Blendon, who follows public opinion on health care at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “The unvaccinated have an opposition toward Washington, and the more you stir the opposition, the more it convinces them 'I'm not going to give in to those people,'” Blendon said.
Yet top officials don't seem to be ready to let go of a favored catchphrase.
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Until very recently, Biden's handling of the pandemic was seen as a solid strength. But the August edition of the AP-NORC poll found flashing warnings for the president. Approval of his COVID-19 response fell by 12 percentage points from July, down from 66% to 54%. It was the lowest COVID-19 approval rating for Biden, and the first time that his approval number on the pandemic was basically the same as his overall performance rating.
Among independents, there was a nearly 30 percentage point drop in approval.
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Seems like the false messaging that vaccinated people are "safe" and can thus disregard all precautions, and it's therefore only the unvaccinated "lepers" who can get sick and spread the virus or be in the hospital is beginning to backfire.