The article goes on to spend a couple pages drawing the conclusion that this is an indication of vaccine hesitancy, and that the country could be in big trouble.  Unfortunately they're wrong.

Good journalism should provide its readers/listeners/watchers with perspective.  Unfortunately it seems these authors don't have enough themselves.

If I got infected with Covid-19 it could kill me.  I'm not really old, and my job is not on the front line, so I wasn't in the first groups eligible.  But I'm neither young, nor trim; so I am at risk.  Am I spending 20+ hours a day scouring every government waiting list and health organization site trying to get an appointment?  No.  And understanding why should be what journalists are doing, but they don't seem to be doing it.

People get upset at government when it is not effective.  Joe Biden realizes his problems are just beginning with the passage of the relief bill.  He now has to mobilize the government to deliver relief effectively.  Vaccinating the bulk of the population is also going to require programs that deliver the vaccine effectively, and right now we are not there.  Were there people for who infection would have practically been a death sentence?  Certainly, and those people were properly motivated to clear herculean barriers to get the cure.  For a great many of us though, we're managing the risks, and we'll get vaccinated when processes get sorted out and it becomes accessible to us.

Getting my flu shot last year was a matter of walking into a grocery store one day, wandering by the pharmacy, asking if I could get a flu shot, and then waiting two minutes to get one.  That's what effective health care looks like; and so far in this pandemic, we are not there.  Unfortunately when it comes to informing the public about the government's efforts on vaccinations, the mainstream media is not there either.

Labels: vaccine, wapo