Governor Hutchinson joined Dr. Anthony Fauci on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos and, well, you’ve seen the movie before.
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Fauci said the vaccine works, the Delta variant is a nasty thing and …
… we have some sort of a schism between some states and some areas that have a very low level of vaccination, which is really unfortunate, because we want to make sure those people are protected for their own safety in and their own life, but that of their family and their community.
The host noted that 93 percent of Democrats say they have been or will be vaccinated, while only 49 percent of Republicans are saying that.
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Which brought the topic to red-state Arkansas and its 44th-worst vaccination rate. The governor has blamed it partly on the lack of full authorization from the FDA. Fauci said he understood some hesitancy about drugs authorized for emergency use, but:
When you’re dealing with the data that we have now, George, you’re talking about hundreds of millions of people who have been vaccinated and in every country you go to you see that the effectiveness and the safety of the vaccines are very high.
So although it’s understandable — quite understandable that some people might say, well, we want to wait for the full approval, that’s really only a technical issue. It’s the FDA dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. But there’s no doubt in my mind that these vaccines are going to get full approval because of the extraordinary amount of positive data.
Stephanopoulos greeted Hutchinson by noting the state appeared to be in a third surge. Hutchinson said he was working hard to get the word out about vaccinations and said a drop in the age of people requiring hospitalization was a result of the greater vaccination rate among older people.
But what about the partisan divide?
Well, you know, there shouldn’t be a partisan divide first of all. But, clearly, conservative is more hesitant about government authority. That’s just the nature of it. And so, I think in the Southern states and some rural states, you have that more conservative approach, skepticism about government.
And we just have to answer it just like we have all through history, that you overcome skepticism and mistrust by truth. You overcome resistance and obstinance with saying it’s important for our community, and it’s important for the health of our state and nation.
And so, I think that’s simply the nature of different views of government. We’ve got to overcome that mistrust because it — Republicans, Democrats, we all suffer the same consequence if the delta variant hits us and we’re not vaccinated.
A bit of baloney to slice through here. Government authority has never been so strong as under the Republican legislature, busy telling people what they can and cannot do — even what they can and cannot talk about. Plus, apart from Hutchinson, name a Republican state official who’s been aggressively making public rounds to urge people to get vaccinated, risking their Fox bona fides in the process. I again ask Republican legislators to declare publicly if they’ve been vaccinated and, if not, why not.
Hutchinson did his customary softshoe when asked about President Biden’s call for knocking on doors to get the word out. That’s another thing the Fox echo chamber has turned into an overreaching government. Said, Hutchinson:
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Long before President Biden said that, we have community organizations that’s helping us. We have churches that are going into homes. We have people that go in to those that are bedridden so that they can have access to the vaccine.
So, there’s nothing dramatic about what the president said in itself. No one wants an agent knocking on a door. But we do want those that do not have access otherwise to make sure they know about it and having the information.
Not everybody goes on the internet. Not everybody has that access. And so, how do you get information to them?
We want to have our churches involved. We want to have our communities, organizations — if it means going into a community door by door and letting them know of this, then that’s okay.
Stephanopoulos noted that UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson has recommended the continued use of face coverings. Should the legislation prohibiting mask mandates be delayed?
No — no, it should not. And, first of all, the CDC has it right. And I hope they don’t change that guidance. I hope it’s not necessarily changed that guidance. And that is that if you’re vaccinated, you don’t need to wear a mask.
And so, I think if we started requiring mask-wearing of those vaccinated, particularly — well, anywhere, indoors or outdoors, that is a disincentive to get vaccinated. We want people to be rewarded and saying, your life is going to be more normal. You’re going to be more protected.
And to tell people who’ve been vaccinated “you got to wear a mask” is the wrong program. It’s not going to be helpful to get people to be vaccinated.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What about schools? How are you going to handle masks in schools this fall?
HUTCHINSON: Well, we’re not going to have masks in schools. And we had in-classroom school last year. We’re going to have it even better this year.
And, you know, whenever — right now, 12-plus can be vaccinated. And so, the solutions are clear. To be safe in the schools, get vaccinated.
Now, those that are 12 and under, that don’t have that same access, and so you’ve got to even be more careful, even though the risks are less, that’s an incentive for parents to protect those children to make sure they have a safe environment in their home and in their community by increasing the vaccination rate for everybody around them and they can have a successful year as well.
There’s the coldest comfort in that statement for parents worried about sending children back into schools where mask mandates are prohibited, younger children can’t get shots and many on school staff are refusing to be vaccinated.
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Asa soft shoes his way through another national TV appearance, though he at least does say vaccinations are a good thing - Arkansas Times
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