Will Cain on vaccinations, 7/26/21
Citation From the July 26, 2021, edition of Fox News' The Will Cain Podcast
WILL CAIN (HOST): Story number two. [GUITAR SOUND EFFECT]
A glimpse perhaps into our future by looking across the pond. As the rhetoric ramps up around COVID-19 vaccines and hits a crescendo — a peak, I think — over the last week or two, I want you to think about the direction, the pull, the way the goalposts have moved over the last 12 months. We've hit these rhetorical peaks, these hyperbolic moments, this hyperventilating in the news media multiple times over the last 12 months. And I want you to think about how each one of those peaks and valleys, the goalposts continued to move when it came to the COVID-19 pandemic. We absolutely turned on each other, yelled at each other, and ratcheted up the crisis in fear levels to 10 at every opportunity. We did it when it came to shutdowns, to lockdowns, absolutely stay at home, absolutely shut down your business. Then we did it with school closures and keep our kids out of school. We quickly transitioned into big, ugly fights over masks, and people I think relished those fights. They relish those moments on the street to yell at each other about their face diapers. We moved from masks then to vaccines, and that's where we are at this moment.
What to do with the unvaccinated, the NFL has said if their players are unvaccinated and there's an outbreak on their team, by the way, then that team is going to forfeit a game and the players are going to pay for the costs of that loss game. I don't know how the NFL is going to determine whether an unvaccinated player or a vaccinated player started the little outbreak on their team, because we know at this point there are breakthrough infections among the vaccinated. But that's where we are. We're yelling at each other right now. We're blaming those that don't get vaccinated for our current pandemic. This, by the way, as well, infections go up, hospitalizations and deaths go down. I'd love to see an inverse chart, by the way, of hospitalizations and deaths over a 12 month period measured up against our rhetoric and our fights over various policies we've instituted. It's just once again, so fascinating to revisit that we have moved so far from bend the curve, we've moved so far from don't overwhelm the hospitals to the point where we are today, get a needle in everyone's arm to ensure no one ever gets sick.
COVID, the Delta variant, and the breakthrough cases in the vaccinated is amounting to not much more than the sniffles, often asymptomatic. We're trying to reduce COVID to a zero percent transmission rate. And guess what? That ain't ever happening. There's nothing really no viral infection we've been able to totally, totally stamp out. And most doctors right now are saying this is going to be seasonal. It's going to come back every year. So what are we going to do? We're going to yell at each other about booster shots. We're going to put masks on every winter. We're going to shut down schools and businesses once a year. Over something that the hospitalization and death rate is plummeting on. But that's not the point.
I want to talk about where we're headed, because to think about those peaks and valleys and think about that rhetorical crescendo, you've got to think we're not letting this go. You know that. We've talked about this for quite some time. We're only going to keep moving the goalposts forward to the next big culture war. And I think if you look across the seas, you'll see where we're headed.
First, school starts in August, September. For many places, that's about the same time that Pfizer and Moderna are going to be looking for emergency use authorization for their vaccines for children as young as 12. Teachers unions and schools will most likely begin the fight, and the crescendo will probably happen in late August, that all of our children down to the age of 12 need to be vaccinated. And this will be one big, bad, ugly fight because the science does not support that fear. That is the next fight. That is the next goal post. And it'll happen. Mark your calendars. My suspicion is late August that fight will replace the get everyone vaccinated fight. It will begin to target and center on 12-year-olds.
But we will not stop there because in Europe right now, according to The Wall Street Journal, vaccine passports are the latest tool to ensure that everyone gets vaccinated. Now, you've heard that called for here in America. Resident crazy lady, I don't know how this person has an M.D., but CNN medical contributor Leana Wen has at least been consistent from the very beginning that she wants you to show her your papers, she made that argument again this past week on CNN, the argument for vaccine passports.
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CAIN: So universal masking, unless we get vaccine passports, unless we can tell the vaccinated from the unvaccinated, you can hear her saying we need to make life hard on the unvaccinated. If you're not vaccinated, you can't come to the concert or you have to go get a negative test. And that's what needed in order to really incentivize vaccines at this point. Well, that's exactly what's happening in Italy and France. Life is getting very hard for the unvaccinated. There are green passes, mobile green passes in Italy, and health certificates in France that are required, yes, to travel between European countries. But also to participate in daily life, like indoor dining, restaurants, going to the gym, and just being a normal person in this world.
And by the way, it's apparently worked, as you would expect. This type of coercion, this type of excommunication from society has encouraged more people to get the shot. In France, most recent data, according to Wall Street Journal, suggests 298,000 people are getting the shot a day. This is compared to 161,000 in early July. You're looking in many places in Europe at the request for vaccination doubling as these restrictions are implemented. And guess what, by the way, in Europe, many of these restrictions apply to everybody older than 12 years old. It's coming for us, both of these fights over our children and for vaccine passports.
In Greece, indoor dining only open to the vaccinated, recovered, or tested. They at least included those who've already had COVID and recovered from it. That contingent of society is totally missing from the public debate here in America. What of those of us who have had COVID and recovered? Do we get to count towards the herd immunity status? Do we have to have your vaccine? Is it right for us, just like it's right for everyone else in your estimation?
In England, beginning in September, proof of full vaccinations going to be required to get into nightclubs. And they're putting together a National Health Service mobile app to help you prove vaccination. I saw a Pew poll from this past week asking people of different countries how they felt about their government's handling of the coronavirus, and it's pretty fascinating because here in America, one thing we are certainly guilty of is being inwardly focused and thinking the world stops at our borders. So we have no idea really how other people view their governments and how it's handled coronavirus. And what's fascinating is they're none too pleased. Take, for example, Japan, where the Tokyo Olympics are taking place. In Japan. I believe it's something like 60 percent of people are incredibly unhappy with the way their government has handled the coronavirus. This, by the way, in a country that has overwhelming mask compliance and by the way, is suffering a spike in coronavirus infections — makes you wonder about the effectiveness of that mask compliance. The point is, it's a virus that no one can control and everyone responds to somewhat differently and everyone has their own risk calculation. But we're treating it as though we can control it. And the way to control it is for everyone, everyone to behave exactly in the same way.
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