Regardless, given the lion’s share of the doses have gone out under the current administration, it’s now worth asking just how effective they truly were. Some new numbers out of Britain, and a distinct difference in their strategy, is now calling into question the wisdom of figures like Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The United States, instead of blasting out single doses to every person in the most vulnerable categories as fast as they could, stuck to a more regimented, and in some cases, more political distribution schedule. You’ll probably all remember the rush to vaccinate “first responders” and medical professionals when the vaccine first dropped. Millions of doses went to people with little to no risk of serious illness from COVID. Many states took weeks to finally start distributing vaccines at a high level to those most vulnerable. Science has continually told us that a 27-year-old nurse didn’t need to be prioritized for vaccination. Certainly, those states and localities that have used race to weigh distribution are doing something even worse.
This is where a state like Florida stood out. They decided to not follow the CDC’s guidance and instead sought to vaccinate as many seniors as possible. That earned scorn from the media and the left, but it was the right strategy. Currently, Florida is completely open, having fewer deaths per million than the national average, and infections continue to drop. It’s fairly clear they reached some semblance of herd immunity a lot sooner than the heavily mitigated, heavily politicized blue states in the Northeast that are currently seeing surges.
Of course, this isn’t just on Biden, though, the buck stops with him. Dr. Fauci has continually sought the spot-light, recently taking credit for the vaccine despite having almost nothing to do with its development. He rejected the idea of machine-gunning single vaccine doses to the most vulnerable, instead endorsing politicized CDC standards for who should get the vaccine first. He questioned the effectiveness of the vaccines early on and was unconvinced that a single dose could provide the value vs. sticking with a strictly two-dose distribution method.
The UK shows how wrong he was. That’s hardly his first “mistake” during the pandemic, though. This is the same guy who was against masks before being so for them as to eschew all current data. He also downplayed herd immunity when it was always the quickest way to protect those who are actually vulnerable to the disease at any real, elevated statistical level. Fauci will pay no price, though. The media will continue to fawn, Joe Biden will keep giving him plaudits, and more magazine covers will be in his future. No one is ever actually held accountable in Washington.